Back to School: Machine High II
by jakela
Summary: In this final visit to Machine High (I swear!), romance and angst mix with humor as we tie up the threads of this tale. Ms. Carter discovers an evil within the school that threatens them all, new secrets are revealed, and new relationships begin, while old ones are rekindled.
1. Chapter 1

In this final visit to Machine High (I swear!), romance and angst mix with humor as we tie up the threads of this tale. Ms. Carter discovers an evil within the school that threatens them all, new secrets are revealed, and new relationships begin, while old ones are rekindled.

In honor of the November 25th event, #JossCarterIsEternal, from November 23 – 29 a new chapter will be posted every day.

Chapter 1 – Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Auto Shop teacher Jocelyn Carter stood in front of the packed crowd at Cal Beecher's memorial service. She'd been asked to say a few words, but as she unfolded the piece of paper in her hands, Joss knew all the things that she had spent hours writing last night meant nothing.

They were just words that you could say about anyone, not the man she had supposedly cared about, a man who had died a shocking and still mysterious death.

As Joss faced an expectant crowd, her mind went blank.

She'd seen Beecher every day at school, but Joss couldn't recall one memory, one thing he said or did that was special or meaningful to her.

All she could think to say was, "Oh, Cal."

The room was silent.

Then clapping began, at first slowly and then building to a deafening crescendo. People were standing on their feet, hugging each other and crying. Students were tweeting the words and the choir began singing, "Oh, Cal," their voices rising and falling in glorious harmony across the Machine High chapel.

"Magnificent, Ms. Carter, simply magnificent – the most eloquent eulogy I've heard in some time." School Board Head Alonzo Quinn wiped his eyes as he slowly walked up to the podium, his voice hoarse with emotion. "I'm sure my godson is looking down at us, and nodding in approval."

In a secluded alcove at the rear of the chapel, Bear, nattily attired with a black band on one leg, leaned over to Cafeteria Lady Reese and Coach Finch. "How can he look down? He was found flat on his back under a horse," Bear growled softly.

Finch raised an eyebrow at him.

"He was buried on his back, as well, was he not? So how can he look down? Why do humans make these incorrect and illogical statements?"

"Bear…" the Coach said warningly.

"It's a simple question, Finch." He tilted his head towards the Cafeteria Lady, his eyes glinting. "Don't you agree, Reese?"

"I'm just a cook, Bear. Stuff like that is above my pay grade." Reese fought not to smile as a furiously whispered debate erupted between the Coach and the Security Head – Bear loved exasperating Finch by pretending he was as clueless about human behavior as humans were about dogs – but his focus wasn't on his two friends, it was on Ms. Carter.

Graceful as always, clad in a simple dark blue dress that showed off her tiny waist and toned arms, she stood at the front of the room, accepting hugs and condolences from the attendees as they filed past her. Reese waited until the space was almost empty, then made his way over to the Auto Shop teacher.

Light from the chapel's glass roof streamed over her flawless brown skin and thick raven locks and as she turned to greet him, Reese's mouth went dry at how beautiful she was.

"Thank you, for putting together all of the refreshments, John. I hope it wasn't too much trouble."

He cleared his throat."No problem, Ms. Carter, glad to do it."

Joss tilted her head at him. "You look different." Her big brown eyes scanned his lean frame. "No hairnet and…you've got _pants_ on."

Reese smirked at her. "I _do_ get out of the cafeteria occasionally, Ms. Carter."

"I can see that." She smiled at him, then ducked her head, looking up at him through her lashes. "You look…nice."

He looked more than nice, Joss thought. He looked incredible. Without the hairnet, the silver strands in his dark hair sparkled, highlighting his blue eyes, a jacket showed off his broad shoulders and the pants let you appreciate his long legs in a way that was different from when he wore a skirt.

Cafeteria Lady John Reese was an attractive man, she'd always known that, but Joss considered him a just a friend, nothing more.

Liar, she thought.

Her mind flashed back to that day in the Auto Shop when she crashed into him. Feeling his hard frame against hers, his strong hands sliding along her body as if he knew every curve intimately, was like nothing Joss had ever experienced before.

This was a man she would see outside of the office.

Joss had sensed that he was going to ask her something that day – if Cal hadn't had burst in, what would John have asked her, she wondered. And what would she have said in reply?

No, Joss told herself, I can't. John Reese was a good man. If he knew her secret…

He smiled softly at her. "Ready to walk over to the cafeteria, Ms. Carter?"

"Not yet…I need a few minutes to myself, John. See you over there?" She smiled back, but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. "Just a minute, John. I'll be right there, I promise."

He looked as though he wanted to say something more, but nodded, then walked away.

Joss headed to the rest rooms located in a hall at the back of the chapel. As the Auto Shop teacher entered the hallway she heard urgent, low voices in an office and instinctively, she came to a stop and listened.

"I want every penny, Simmons, every cent. I want to bleed this place dry."

"You'll have it, boss. I promise. The situation with your godson, we're using to our advantage."

"Yes…Cal," Alonzo Quinn's voice, so warm and gentle just a few minutes earlier, was now dripping with contempt. "He finally came in handy. I need to head over to the cafeteria and join the other mourners. We'll talk later."

"You got it, boss."

At the sound of their footsteps, Joss quickly lowered her head and stepped forward as they exited the back office.

"Ah, Jocelyn, you're still here, are you alright?" Quinn took her hand, the caring mask back in place.

"I'm just a little overwhelmed," she said, aware that Simmons was looking at her closely. "I'm going to freshen up a bit, before I head over to the cafeteria."

"I'll wait for you. The stairs leading to the rest of campus are rather steep." The chapel, a former Baptist church, was located at the bottom of a small hill, secluded from the rest of the Machine High. Stone steps, carved from the rocky hillside, led you to the rest of the site. Quinn touched his chest with his free hand. "It will be nice to have a strong arm to lean on. Cal's death…" his voice trailed off."

Joss raised her head, slowly meeting his eyes. "We were all worried about you, Mr. Quinn."

The School Board Head had reportedly collapsed at the news of Beecher's death and had been in seclusion until today. Rumors had run rampant that he'd had some sort of emergency procedure and his movements were hesitant and uncertain during the service, his suit hanging loosely on his elegant frame.

"Well, seeing today how much everyone cared about Cal certainly helped," he smiled softly.

Joss nodded. "I'll just be a few minutes."

"Take your time," Quinn said, squeezing her hand.

As she stepped into the ladies room, Quinn's smile faded as Simmons slowly shook his head at his boss. The School Board Head looked sad for a moment, then nodded to his henchman and the Teacher's Union President slipped away.

Next: Prayer changes things.


	2. Chapter 2: Prayer Changes Things

Chapter 2: Prayer Changes Things

On his way to the cafeteria, Reese heard an anguished cry and ran into the staff lounge.

Nurse Shaw was holding her ever present steak knife over her head, ready to plunge it into Ms. Groves, who was Collier's arms, their clothes strewn on the lounge floor. With lightning speed, Reese took the knife out of her hand, wrestling the incensed woman away from the shocked couple.

"You said you wanted to mourn Beecher's death privately! That you were going to spend some time in prayer, Root, or I guess I should I call you _Rut, _now!" the Nurse snarled.

"I did pray, _So-Mean_," Ms. Groves smirked. "I said _'OhGodOhGodOhGod'_ more times than I can count."

"But –"

"While you were off posting your profile on Angler and letting Ian Murphy stick more than his tongue in your face, Peter and I were getting to know each other better," the Groundskeeper purred, tracing a finger along Collier's lips. "Our grief might have gotten us carried away a little," she glanced down at her naked body, "well, maybe a lot, but we've become close."

The Civics teacher kissed her hand. "Samantha was an innocent victim of our government's tyranny, Nurse Shaw. It wasn't that she interrupted the State of the Union address that caused them to persecute her, it was her crusade to set the Oregon Trail software free for the world. They couldn't allow that, so they came after her. They wanted to destroy her, but she withstood it all. She's a true freedom fighter."

Ms. Shaw shook her head, trying to fight her way out of Reese's grasp, but he held the tiny woman fast, her arms and legs flailing in the air. "_Persecution? – Crusade_ ?- _Freedom fighter?_ - It's a friggin' video game, not the Declaration of Independence!"

Collier looked affronted. "It's an example of our nation's glorious past, before the gov –"

The Nurse held up her hand, silencing him. She turned to Ms. Groves. "He has a penis, you know."

"Nobody's perfect," The Groundskeeper said serenely.

"We should let them get dressed," Reese said quietly, as he carried Nurse Shaw out of the room.

The fight suddenly went out of her and she sagged against him. "I don't get it – we – Root, me - it was never supposed to be serious between us, we were just having fun!"

"Samantha cared a great deal about you, Sameen," Reese said softly, "And maybe you care about her more than you thought." He reached into his pocket and handed her a handkerchief.

Slowly, Nurse Shaw pressed the cloth against her face, stunned to pull it away and find it damp with tears.

Easily holding the dejected Nurse under one arm, limbs dangling while her sobs created a shining trail on the hall tiles, Reese knocked on Fusco's door and walked in. "Someone to talk to you, Lionel."

The Counselor looked over his glasses as Reese deposited Nurse Shaw in a chair. "I'm going to need a case, John. The good stuff. Brand name, none of that generic crap."

Reese nodded. "The Magnificent Seven: Coke, Mountain Dew, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, Fanta, 7-UP, Canada Dry. I'll even throw in some Barq."

Fusco raised an eyebrow at him. "You know your shit, Wonderboy."

"No, Lionel," Reese smirked at him, "I know _your_ shit."

"Yeah, well, toss in some Mello Yello, too, _Counselor_, for me." Fusco rolled up his sleeves. "This one's gonna take a while."

Lionel was going to earn his pay today, Reese thought as he headed towards the cafeteria.

Next: Joss makes a 'sweet' discovery.


	3. Chapter 3: A 'Sweet' Discovery

Chapter 3 – A 'Sweet' Discovery

A/N: A guest reviewer had a question about John wearing a skirt. Check out the story Machine High for the answer to this and other questions like Bear being able to speak.

That evening a lithe figure slid along a cable from the observatory tower in the Science building to the roof of Machine High's Administrative building. Deftly avoiding any cameras, the figure then rappelled down to a small private fourth floor balcony, entered a dark hallway and picked the lock on the first office on the right and slipped inside.

Joss stood there for a moment, getting her bearings, casting a small flashlight over the space.

No one ever set foot in Teacher's Union President Patrick Simmons' office. He relied on stealthily coming up behind a faculty member and whispering something vaguely menacing in their ear, lying in wait in their dark office or standing in the back of their classroom, his skull like face and dead eyes causing more than one skilled lecturer to babble or lose their train of thought before he slowly melted away with a smirk on his face.

It was a mystery as what he exactly did or how he had become President of the Teacher's Union, but Simmons had been at Machine High forever. Most faculty members were terrified of him and even the non-faculty members usually gave him a wide berth when he appeared in the halls.

Joss wasn't one of them.

Her colleagues thought it was because of her time in the military and as a police detective, but Joss knew there were monsters out there much, much worse than Patrick Simmons.

She wasn't afraid of Simmons at all, and she knew that deeply disturbed him, and while she pretended to be distraught after the memorial service, Joss knew she hadn't fooled him. The urgency in Quinn's and Simmons' voices told her that whatever they were planning on doing was going to happen soon and Joss was determined to find out what it was.

Noting Cal's passing was key. There had been rumors about Machine High for years, and Joss had heard the nicknames - Stepford High, Robot High, X-Men High – with a record setting football team, award winning students and a very non-traditional faculty, people thought the place was too good to be true.

Collier had been crushed not because John Greer had been providing information to local authorities – he was crushed because nothing damning had been discovered.

But Cal's death had changed all that. Animal rights activists were questioning the school's policies in the wake of the horse's death, Ian Murphy had given several unflattering interviews about the school overall, a reward had suddenly been issued from some long lost relative looking for information about the missing HR counselor Stills and old stories about Root's crime had reappeared in the press.

Despite Ms. Morgan's best efforts, the _Ledger's_ Maxine Angelis was reveling in hyping or simply making up any 'news' about the school. She had covered the memorial service and the reception – which featured Detective Delmonico steaks, Carter Chicken Cacciatore and nonalcoholic Joss Julep Jigglers –and had posted an online article this afternoon called _'Hoarse Play?'_ which speculated about what 'secrets' motivated the tendency of many of the school's staffers to speak in what she referred to as the 'Machine Murmur', a low sexy whisper that mesmerized you.

Hours later, she wrote, you realized that you couldn't recall a single thing that they said.

A sidebar to her article announced a hastily scheduled pre-season scrimmage orchestrated by J E Hoover High's Coach Nicholas Donnelly, who was obsessed with beating Machine High and had badgered and browbeaten the athletic commissioners into sanctioning the match. Ms. Angelis had tried to rattle Coach Finch with several pointed questions about the success of the Machine High football team and while the Coach answered them calmly, Joss knew that he couldn't be happy with this sudden development.

If Quinn and Simmons were planning on draining the private school's coffers, this would be the time to do it, Joss thought.

Simmons office was pristine, papers lined up perfectly, pencils evenly sharp. Ironically, in keeping with the school's image, there were no additional security measures, no safe, nothing that indicated Simmons had anything to hide. As Joss carefully and meticulously went through his office, she thought about his habits, especially the things he liked to ride people about.

Fusco's weight was a favorite target; Simmons delighted in calling the Counselor names like Poppin' Fresh, the Keg with Legs and Dear Flabby, and had even tried to have all sodas banned from the Machine High campus, a ploy foiled only after Fusco, with Joss' help, had gathered data on how successful his counseling sessions were with the therapeutic beverage.

Joss opened the small refrigerator in a corner of Simmons office. There were the expected fruits and vegetables, the yogurts and the flaxseed, but as Joss looked at the contents, she noticed that the shelves were just a little shallow, not as deep as they should be, considering the depth of the interior. Carefully looking at the back wall, Joss pulled out one of the shelves, revealing a seam in the smooth plastic. She peeled it back.

Candy bars.

Joss smiled grimly at the thought of Simmons secretly scarfing these down, while pretending to be a health nut.

They were neatly lined up in alpha-numerical order, from Almond Joys to York Peppermint Patties, 3 Musketeers to 100 Grands, with gaps where Simmons must have made the day's selections.

Joss' eyes scanned the treats – there was _something_ here, she just knew it.

_There._

She took several photos, then carefully put everything back.

Making sure there was no trace of her being in the office, Joss left, rappelling off the balcony to the ground. She carefully hid her equipment in some bushes as she considered her next move.

There was one more stop she needed to make.

Joss closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then strode determinedly towards her next destination.

Next: We learn Joss' secret and meet some old friends.


	4. Chapter 4: Family Ties

Chapter 4 – Family Ties: We learn Joss' secret and meet some old friends

"Well, well, well, the Prodigal Daughter returns. What brings you here, Jossy?"

The Auto Shop teacher entered the one part of Machine High that she had studiously avoided for the last year.

The Humanities Building.

Joss looked down at the woman blocking her path.

"I need to see Mr. Burton, Antonia."

Antonia wasn't a large dog, but you could sense the power under her sleek dark fur and a jagged scar across her muzzle let you know that she wasn't afraid to take on all comers. Her eyes gleamed sardonically as she looked Joss up and down. "_Mr. Burton? Antonia?_ Why so formal, _Joc-e-lyn_, it's not as though we're strangers."

When Joss had told Finch and Bear that she had met elite dogs like Bear when she was an interrogator, she wasn't being entirely truthful. She'd known Antonia since she was a child. They'd been raised like sisters, but Joss had taken one road, while Antonia had chosen another.

"Would you prefer that I call him by his real name, _Toni_? Prefer that everyone know _who_, and _what_ he really is? That the 'kind and gentle' English teacher Charlie Burton is really notorious mobster Carl Elias?"

"Girls, please. It's much too pleasant an evening to waste it bickering." Elias stepped into the hallway. "Antonia."

The dog nodded, and stepped aside.

"It's lovely to see you, Jocelyn," he said, as they entered his classroom. A gentle breeze from the open windows wafted through the air, and soft music was playing. Colorful platters with meats, cheeses and fresh fruit were on the table, along with a bottle of wine. Candles were lit and a small bouquet of flowers highlighted the simple yet elegant setting. "You're just in time for a late dinner."

"I'm not staying, Elias."

"You can have a glass of wine, surely, Jocelyn. Indulge your father, please."

"I am _not_ your daughter!" Joss hissed.

"No, but your parents entrusted you to me, before they left on that fateful trip to the Arctic, and I raised you like you were my own."

Highly respected teachers, Joss' parents had disappeared when she was a baby during an expedition retracing the steps of the Perry expedition to the North Pole.*

Joss' laugh was short and bitter. "They didn't know that you'd teach me how to lie, how to steal, how to be a criminal!"

"I also took you and Antonia around the world during summer vacations. You speak over a dozen languages, know Cicero's speeches by heart, stood on the same mountaintops from where Shaka commanded his armies. And yes," his voice rang with pride, "you were an incredible student in _all_ things, Jocelyn. You boosted your first car when you were eighteen months old, and judging by your attire tonight, you continue to utilize the skills you claim to despise."

His eyes flashed and for a moment, Joss saw the man that few people knew was behind the placid persona, the man that they saw only in their last agonizing moments. "You _are_ my daughter, Jocelyn, whether you choose to accept it or not!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Joss saw Antonia slip into the space. Those on campus saw her as an indulgence, a companion for an older and highly respected teacher, but Joss knew that Antonia was a deadly enforcer and at the sound of Elias' raised voice, had instinctively come in to protect him.

He raised his hands, defusing the tension in the room. "I don't wish to spoil this occasion with a pointless argument. Please, sit down, Jocelyn. Join me."

Joss took a seat, memories of other evenings like this flooding her mind, nights of love and laughter and learning. It had all been a game to her as a child, and Elias, and the men who worked for him, men she considered her uncles, had delighted in her progress.

And while she had accused Elias of teaching her to lie, Joss knew that she had done a good job on that all by herself, ignoring what her father really was, until she came home unexpectedly on a bright summer day after she had graduated from college and saw one of those uncles, dead, in the living room, Antonia rolling his body up in an area rug like a cannoli, while Elias methodically wiped a blade clean.

Joss slipped back out, went to a recruiting station and joined the Army that day. Withdrawing just enough money from her savings account to make her adoptive father think that she was going on a little shopping spree, but not too much to raise his suspicions, Joss stole a car and left town, using everything she had learned to evade Elias' men until she reported to boot camp.

The Army, the police academy, getting her law degree at night, taking down as many criminals as she could, Joss did whatever she could to distance herself from her past, but it haunted her, knowing that part of the reason she was so good at catching criminals was because she had been raised by one.

Elias kept his distance, but Joss could feel his presence at key moments in her life, like the day she graduated from the academy and occasionally Joss would glimpse Antonia's sleek silhouette on a rooftop, or in a dark alley, watching her, and she knew that her childhood companion was reporting back to him.

Three years ago, after being honored for taking down a massive car theft ring while investigating a homicide, Alonzo Quinn had recruited her to come to Machine High, and with the urging of her former partner, Lionel Fusco, who had joined the staff a year earlier, Joss accepted. She was tired of feeling like a criminal while she was chasing criminals.

For two years, Machine High was a haven to her, but then a year ago, it was announced that a retiree from the city's school system had agreed to become the head of the Humanities Department.

Charlie Burton.

Joss sipped the wine – as expected, it was wonderful. "What do you know about Alonzo Quinn?"

"That he is highly respected, serves on a number of corporate and charitable boards and is the founder of Machine High. Not a whiff of scandal or even a rumor about him, despite all his years in the public eye. He is above reproach and has never received as much as a parking ticket his entire life." Elias' eyes twinkled with amusement; while he was not as well known as Quinn, he could have been talking about his alter ego, Charlie Burton. "But as you know, Jocelyn, where there are no secrets…"

"There are only those undiscovered."

Joss, Elias and Antonia shared a look of understanding.

"He's going to rob Machine High." Joss relayed the conversation between Quinn and Simmons and her encounter with the two men in the hallway. "Samaritan Industries just donated tens of millions of dollars for the new library and –"

Elias' nodded. "As a privately funded institution, Machine High doesn't have the oversight and controls that a public school would. How its finances are administrated have always been a closely guarded secret. The money could be long gone before anyone really noticed. It's –"

Antonia's tail thumped loudly on the floor, "Too good to pass up. _I'd_ do it." Her eyes slid towards Joss. "Hypothetically, of course."

Joss shook her head, while Elias' eyes glinted. "And you believe that his illness is contrived, Jocelyn?"

The Auto Shop teacher shrugged. "He supposedly collapsed at home, had no visitors and the clothes he wore today were new - easy to get a larger size. The man I heard talking to Simmons in that office was as healthy as…" her voice trailed off.

Antonia's muzzle twitched. "A horse?"

The humans' lips quirked, but neither one said anything.

Elias sipped his wine thoughtfully. "The makings of a modern day tragedy. His life's work destroyed by scandal and financial mismanagement, reeling from the death of his godson, his reputation in ruins, emotionally and physically weakened – no one would question Quinn disappearing and then a report of his 'death' in obscurity."

"Meanwhile he's living it up in some tropical paradise, while the rest of us are left holding the bag, literally," Joss finished.

The mobster leaned back in his chair. "Why have you come to see us, Jocelyn? Surely there are others, your contacts in law enforcement - " they ignored Antonia's low growl " – you could have shared this information with." Elias tilted his head at her. "More importantly, I understand that you received an offer from Fitzhugh Quinnell's** New Technologies Department."

Joss folded her arms. "That's confidential. I'm not going to ask how you found that out."

Elias chuckled, "No, it's probably better," Antonia winked at her, "if you didn't, but as I said, you could share this information with the proper authorities, perform your civic duty, leave with your conscience clear."

Joss shook her head. "I can't do that."

"You left the military, the police force." His smile faded as his eyes flashed again, the unspoken words hanging in the air, as he leaned forward. "Leaving is what you're good at, Jocelyn."

Joss didn't flinch. "Going through the proper channels will take too long. They're going to move _now_, while Machine High is in the news." She leaned forward, her voice low and even. "Quinn and Simmons might be crooks, but the kids, the faculty and staff…this place is special, Elias…_Machine High_, is special. You _know_ it's special."

The room was very still. Joss realized that the music had stopped and Antonia's tail wasn't beating against the classroom floor.

After a long moment, Elias nodded. "Tell me what you've discovered."

"I searched Simmons' office tonight – turns out, he's a chocoholic - got every candy bar known to man."

Antonia let out a sharp bark. "All the chocolate in the world couldn't mellow out that sourpuss, even though…he's…kinda _hot_…" her ears twitched, "if you're into humans."

Elias raised an eyebrow as Joss showed him a photo on her phone. "Bar None*** - I haven't seen that brand in years."

"'Tame the chocolate beasty'", Antonia mused. "That would be right up Simmons' alley."

"They don't make 'em here anymore, but they still manufacture them in Mexico. The color of the wrapper is different from when they were made here, which made me look at them a little more closely." Joss brought up the next photo, which showed the back of two candy bars, and then a close up of the lot numbers. "Check out the last six digits of the lot numbers."

"Yes…I can see that they're just a little bit different than the other numbers, as though they were altered."

"I need you to –" Joss paused. She took a deep breath, then looked Elias squarely in the eye. "Please – can you check these out for me? Whatever Quinn's got planned, I know they're the key. With your connections, you can find out if money has changed hands, enough that people have noticed. Even someone like Quinn is going to need help to skip town."

Elias slowly nodded. "I'll see to it."

"Thank you." She sent the photos to his device.

As Joss slipped her phone in her pocket, Elias tilted his head at her again. "Just in case you were wondering, Jocelyn, I did not hear about the New Technologies offer from your friend, Mr. Reese."

Joss felt her face grow hot as she struggled not to react. John was the only person she had discussed the offer with, during their car chats.

Elias knowing about the offer was one thing; knowing that she taken John into her confidence was another.

"I suspect that our Cafeteria Lady is rather good at keeping secrets, Jocelyn." The mobster's eyes gleamed softly. "Something _you_ might want to keep in mind."

Joss stood. They were not going to have this conversation. "Good _night_, Elias." She nodded to Antonia.

"Good night, Jocelyn. We'll be in touch."

She turned to leave, then turned back. "Thanks…again."

As Joss walked out the door, Elias whispered softly. "Anytime, Jossy, anytime."

*TPH has noted that her ancestor, Matthew Henson, a member of the Perry expedition, was the first person to reach the North Pole.

**The school is where Finch sent the young girl Gen at the end of the S3 episode, Razgovor.

***Bar None candy bars had the slogan, "tame the chocolate beasty". They stopped making them in the US in the late 1990s, even though I have read that they were re-introduced in the States recently. The US version had a brown wrapper, while in Mexico, it's bright blue.

Next: Some pop psychology.


	5. Chapter 5: Some Pop Psychology

Chapter 5 – Some Pop Psychology

Heading towards her next destination, The Auto Shop teacher whirled at a clinking sound.

"Don't get all ninja on me, Joss," a voice slurred. "I'm unarmed."

Nurse Shaw hiccupped as she carried a recycle bin full of empty soda cans towards a dumpster. Her steps were jerky and unsteady and several cans spilled out of the bin, rolling away into the darkness.

"You okay, Sam?"

"Yeah…just had a little drinky...well, a lot of drinkies…I'm _popped_…from soda pop!"

Nurse Shaw was showing the effects of too much High Fructose Corn Syrup – emphasis on the _High_, Joss thought. She must have had a doozy of a counseling session with Fusco.

As the Nurse bent over to pick up a can, there was a loud noise as she passed gas. "Sorry," she giggled. "When I bend over, I make music! Won't need a horn on the expressway tonight!"

Joss took the bin out of the Nurse's hand, setting it on the pathway. "You shouldn't drive, Sam. I'll give you a ride home."

Nurse Shaw shook her head. "Nah. Poppin' Fresh, I mean Fusco's, givin' me a lift." Rubbing her stomach, she sighed. "The Counselor's good…told him stuff I hadn't told anyone – not even myself." She raised an eyebrow at the Auto Shop teacher. "_You_ could use some 'pop' psychology' yourself, Joss – then you wouldn't be such a dick, Dick."

"_Excuse me?"_

The Nurse laughed. "You were a Detective, right? A Dick."

Trying to reason with a woman hopped up on sugar and caffeine; I am _so_ going to regret this, Joss thought, but Fusco wasn't anywhere around and in her present state, the Nurse shouldn't be left alone. "I was a _police_ Detective, Sam. Cops aren't called 'Dicks'. Private detect – "

"Yeah, yeah, but you're still a dick, Joss, a _limp_ one. You managed to hook up with the one man who was dead _before_ that horse fell on top of him."

Joss ignored the small voice in the back of her mind that agreed with Nurse Shaw. "Beecher was a good man."

"The only thing he was good for was keeping you away from the guy you _really_ want, Joss. You need to stop actin' like a dick and get some dick." She belched and giggled again. "And not just any dick, you need Chef Boy-How-Hard-Is-He, Bobby F-lay you down, Chef No-Tell-Motel, the Galloping Orgasmic-uet, Tom Co-lick-you-all over, Paul No-Prude-homme, Curtis Stone Fox and of course, Wolfgang F-"

"_**Sam!"**_

"He's just as crazy about you as you are about him, Joss, and he needs something other than starch to stiffen his shorts." She waggled her eyebrows at the Auto Shop Teacher. "He needs _you_!"

She began dancing in a circle around Joss. "Don't be prick, go sic that dick, lick that dick, flick that dick, nibble, but don't nick that dick, slick it up and watch it tick, don't be quick with that dick, oh _noooooooooo_, take it nice and _slooooooooow_, put your lips at the top and then go way down _looooooooow_, suck it deep and then watch him _blooooooow_, one night with him and you will glow, you got the row that his seed wants to sow –"

"_There_ you are!" Fusco bustled up. "Thanks for lookin' out for her, Carter. She took off while I was airin' out my office and –" he paused at the expression on Joss' face. "Everything ok?"

Nurse Shaw stopped dancing and winked at Joss. "Oh, yeah. I was just telling Joss about my favorite word from the," she swirled her tongue in her mouth, "_dick_-tionary."

Joss rolled her eyes. "Just…get her home safely, Fusco. _Now_."

"Headin' right out. Hey, Wonderboy was looking for you earlier." He tilted his head at her. "You know, now that Beecher's gone, you ever think about you and –"

"For the last time, we're _just friends_!" Joss stalked off.

"We'll talk – I'll buy you a soda!" Fusco called after her.

Shaw snorted. "A soda? Non-starter Carter needs a truckload – no, an IV, just pump it right in!" She looked down at her uniform as though she'd never seen it before. "I can help you with that – _I'm a nurse!"_

"Let's get you home, Sameen."

"Okay – but you'll have to drive."

Fusco chuckled. "You really are wasted."

A/N: "…Chef Boy-How-Hard-Is-He, Bobby F-lay you down, Chef No-Tell-Motel, the Galloping Orgasmic-uet, Tom Co-lick-you-all over, Paul No-Prude-homme, Curtis Stone Fox, and of course, Wolfgang F-": Chef Boyardee, Bobby Flay, Chef Tell, The Galloping Gourmet, Tom Colicchio, Paul Prudhomme, Curtis Stone, Wolfgang Puck

Next, _Strangers in the Night_ and one of our characters introduces a new game.


	6. Chapter 6: Strangers in the Night

Chapter 6 - _Strangers in the Night_ and one of our characters introduces a new game.

Wow.

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

Ms. Carter had always looked wonderful in her dresses, but her outfit this evening took Reese's breath away.

She was clad in a sleek black catsuit that showed off every inch of her incredible body, her long legs, tiny waist and full breasts elegantly silhouetted against the lights lining the pathway.

It wasn't just the way she was dressed tonight, Reese thought, it was the way she moved, with power and purpose, yet with grace and femininity.

She had owned Reese, from the moment he first saw her, but watching her now, Reese realized that she owned the night, as well.

What would it be like to have a woman like that by his side, he thought, not only his friend and lover, but fighting along beside him, working with he and Finch and Bear, helping people?

Reese shook his head, adjusting the pack full of weapons on his back; it was just another one of the thousands of fantasies that he'd had about Ms. Carter, thoughts and hopes and dreams that would never, _could_ never come true.

He glanced at the camera in his hand; Reese had quickly taken several photos of Ms. Carter as she approached – photos and fantasies might be the only things he'd have left of her.

She'd gotten an incredible offer from one of the top schools in the world – Ms. Carter had built the Machine High Auto Shop department from nothing into a model for schools around the country; at Fitzhugh Quinnell with a budget fifty times what she had here, she and her students wouldn't just be fixing cars, they'd be creating the next generation of transportation.

Reese had told her to take it. Ms. Carter had done a great job here, but now it was time for her to move on.

He also knew that there were plenty of men who wanted to move on with her romantically as well.

Reese noticed how Detective Szymanski held the Auto Shop teacher's hand a little too long when offering his condolences at the service and while he was in the men's locker room, changing back into his uniform, the Cafeteria Lady had overheard a group of fellow staffers speculating on her availability now that Beecher was gone.

"John?"

Reese slipped the camera into his pocket as he stepped out from the shadows. "Evening, Ms. Carter."

"You're here late, John."

"Just heading out. Waiting for Finch and Bear."

Ms. Carter smiled. "The Three Musketeers. I even have you all listed that way on my phone."

The Cafeteria Lady smirked. "More like The Three Stooges, most times, but yeah...they're good friends."

"It must be nice…" her voice was soft, wistful, "to feel like you belong."

Reese couldn't help himself – he stepped close to her. "I didn't for a long time - some days I still don't, but – having someone to talk to, helped."

The Auto Shop teacher looked off into the distance. "Do you really believe that, John? Some things," her big brown eyes slowly met his, "are hard to talk about, even harder to forgive yourself for."

"I do." And for the first time, Reese knew he meant it. He wanted to share his past with her, wanted to tell her everything. "Ms. Carter, _Joss_, I –" he stepped even closer to her, "I have something that I need to do tonight, but I'd like to talk, really talk to you. And…" he touched her hand, "I'd also like to listen, to whatever you want to talk about."

He saw the internal battle in her eyes. "John, I –"

"_It turned out so right, for strangers in the night…Do be do be do, do do da de da, da da da da da*_," Bear gamboled up and rolled over on his back next to Ms. Carter, whining softly.

Ms. Carter stepped away from Reese, bending down to rub the Security Head's belly. "Hey, Bear…I bet that feels good, after a long day patrolling the halls, huh, boy? Yeah? Oh, you are just wiggling like a fish!...Lower? Okay…"

Bear winked at Reese, as her slender hands traveled down his stomach, snuffling and groaning happily, while the Cafeteria Lady cursed himself, for once again, letting another man come between himself and Ms. Carter.

After a few moments, Ms. Carter straightened up, her gaze guarded and resolute. "Thanks for the talk, John. Good night." Giving Bear one last pat, she walked away.

Reese raised an eyebrow as the Security Head rolled over and stood up. "Really, Bear?"

Bear's tail wagged furiously. "As the saying goes, '_Don't hate the playa, hate the game._'"

"You learn that while you were roaming the halls?"

"This is an institution of 'higher' learning, is it not, Reese?"

"Where apparently you learned how to lure unsuspecting women into inadvertently touching your genitals," Coach Finch said, as he joined them.

"Jealous?" Bear asked as he trotted off ahead of them towards the parking lot.

The Cafeteria Lady and the Coach looked at each other. "_Yes_," they admitted simultaneously.

"I am _so_ going to enjoy kneecapping someone tonight," Reese said, as the two men followed their friend.

"Normally, I abhor violence, Mr. Reese, but this evening, I might join you," the Coach replied.

"_Don't hate the –"_

"Heard you the first time, Bear!" Reese growled.

As they drove away, Reese kept thinking about the look in Ms. Carter's eyes. Every instinct told him to follow her and find out what was bothering her, but they needed to deal with the new Number first.

*_**Strangers in the Night**_ is a 1966 studio album by Frank Sinatra. It marked Sinatra's return to #1 on the pop album charts in the mid-1960s, and consolidated the comeback he started in 1966. The single "Strangers in the Night" also reached #1 on the pop single charts.

At the Grammy Awards of 1967 Sinatra garnered two Grammys for his efforts on this album, including the Record of the Year for the title track, as well as Best Male Vocal Performance for the same song. - Wikipedia

Keep the lyrics in mind in future chapters:

Strangers in the night exchanging glances  
>Wondering in the night<br>What were the chances we'd be sharing love  
>Before the night was through<p>

Something in your eyes was so inviting  
>Something in your smile was so exciting<br>Something in my heart told me I must have you

Strangers in the night, two lonely people  
>We were strangers in the night<br>Up to the moment when we said our first hello

Little did we know  
>Love was just a glance away<br>A warm embracing dance away

And ever since that night we've been together  
>Lovers at first sight, in love forever<br>It turned out so right for strangers in the night

Love was just a glance away  
>A warm embracing dance away<p>

Ever since that night we've been together  
>Lovers at first sight, in love forever<br>It turned out so right for strangers in the night

Do be do be do, do do da de da, da da da da da

Next, Three's Company


	7. Chapter 7: Three's Company

Chapter 7 – Three's Company

Even in the darkness, the duplex stood out. Painted jet black, surrounded by a forbidding looking wrought iron fence, the place screamed, "Stay Away" as Fusco escorted Nurse Shaw through the gate. She stumbled against him, and the Counselor swore as his hand caught on one of the spiky shrubs lining the narrow pathway. He pulled his hand back, only to have his jacket sleeve catch on another branch, thorns gleaming in the moonlight with his blood as he struggled to pull himself free. "What is this, some kind of obstacle course?"

"It's a M-I-L Garden, Fusco."

"M-I-L…" Fusco looked around. "A _Mother-In-Law_ garden?"

"Yeah, keeps people away, you know, like if you had a nosy mother-in-law."

The plants, while beautiful and well cared for, were covered with thorns, spiky stems or razor like sharp leaves, each one a lethal weapon in its own right. Gathered together, they would be a formidable challenge for anyone daring to pay a visit, even in broad daylight.

"She do consulting work? I got an _ex-_M-I-L I could see less of," Fusco smirked as he knocked on one of the duplex doors.

"_Trick or Treat!"_ The Nurse yelled, giggling as the door slowly opened.

The Groundskeeper folded her arms as she looked at the two people on her front steps. "Neither one of you is a treat, so I guess there's a trick involved."

"I know you two had a fallin' out, but she needs someone to look afta her tonight, and since you're neighbors..." Fusco tilted his head towards the other duplex door.

"She tried to kill me today, did she tell you that?"

The Nurse winked at Ms. Groves. "_Nobody's perfect_, remember?" Her smile faded, as the two women stared at each other. "I'm sorry, Root," she whispered finally, then promptly turned and vomited onto the bushes.

The Groundskeeper gently pulled Ms. Shaw's hair back as the Nurse finished retching. "I'm sorry, too, Sam."

Fusco raised his eyebrows as Collier suddenly appeared beside Ms. Groves. "We'll both take care of her, Counselor."

"Are you sure, Peter?" The Groundskeeper asked. "You don't have to do this."

"Sameen is important to you, Samantha, so she's important to me." He picked up the tiny woman. "Let's get you to bed."

"I thought you'd never ask!" The Nurse laughed as the Civics teacher carried her inside.

"You owe me," Ms. Groves said sternly to Fusco, but her eyes were soft as she closed the door.

Fusco smiled as saw that one of the bushes the Nurse had vomited on, was the one that had scratched him. "Right back at ya," the Counselor smirked, as he walked away.

A/N: the idea for a M-I-L garden came from a friend of mine. We were discussing how a property owner, who home is next door to his town's public library, used spiky bushes, like barberry, to stop people from cutting across his yard as a shortcut to the building. My friend quipped that she wanted to do the same thing to keep her mother in law away!

_Three's Company_ was a television show about two women and a man platonically sharing an apartment together. Airing on the ABC network from 1977 to 1984, the series was noted as 'Jiggle TV', a term used to describe shows that used scantily clad women and sexual innuendo to lure young men to the television screen. - Wikipedia

Next, dinner and a show


	8. Chapter 8: Dinner and a Show

Chapter 8 – Dinner and a Show

_Joss._

He called her Joss.

John had never done that before. The Auto Shop teacher paused in the darkness, letting the memory of his voice saying her name float over her, calming, yet thrilling her at the same time.

'_Strangers in the night, two lonely people, we were strangers in the night…__Up to the moment when we said our first hello…' _– Joss smiled at Bear's singing that old Sinatra tune.

Standing there in the dark, looking into John's eyes, it was as if they were meeting for the first time, yet they had known each other forever.

Joss felt like she could say anything, tell John everything, and he would understand.

She also knew, even without asking, that he'd want to help.

For a moment, her heart soared at the thought of them working together, side by side, maybe even with Finch and Bear, too.

After all these years alone …

No. It was too dangerous, she thought. She couldn't bear it if John was to get hurt because of her.

John Reese was much more than just a friend, Joss finally admitted to herself.

It was time to talk, really talk, to him.

But she needed to deal with Quinn and Simmons first.

Joss squared her shoulders, striding towards the ruins of the old library.

The building had existed decades before the founding of Machine High and its small cramped spaces and antiquated mechanicals had turned the space into being little more than a storage facility, crammed full of old books, broken furniture and outdated equipment. Right before the demolition started, the Auto Shop teacher had taken her students on a tour of the site; as the building had been emptied, beautiful old murals had been revealed behind the rickety shelves and stacks of broken and discarded items.

Created during the Depression by the Public Works of Art Project* as a way to ensure the public that better times were ahead, the murals depicted different aspects of American life. An extensive set of paintings in the library along the main staircase and the wide balcony where Joss was standing now had depicted the evolution of the American automobile from its infancy, including the assembly line process.

But it wasn't those murals that drew Joss to the site tonight. It was one mural that she had glanced at during the tour, but not really paid attention to, even though her instincts, honed through her years as an interrogator and then as a detective, had sensed that there something very different about this painting.

It was depiction of a busy harbor scene, freighters and barges and tugs, bales of goods, love starved sailors and burly dockhands. Joss had noticed the mural at first because unlike the other murals, this one wasn't covered with dust and grime; at the time she chalked it up to murals being cleaned prior to their removal from the building, but now, casting her flashlight over the painting, she realized that not only had this mural been cared for, it had also been subtly altered.

There.

Those numbers, the same ones on the Bar None candy bars were there, carefully painted onto the side of one of the vessels. The work had been done so well, so intricately, that unless you knew what to look for, you never would have noticed the changes.

Joss stepped back, taking in the whole scene again. One number led you to information painted on a bale of goods, another to an address on a side of a warehouse, the third to an intricate password on a flag - it was all there, account numbers, passwords, points of contact, trade routes, everything Quinn used to create what she realized now was a vast criminal empire, hidden in plain sight.

The numbers that she had provided to Elias and Antonia were just the tip of the iceberg – once you had them, the rest all fell into place.

The Auto Shop teacher took out her phone, photographing the mural in sections, intent on getting every detail possible.

"Once a detective, always a detective."

Joss' blood ran cold as Patrick Simmons walked slowly up the stairs, followed by a group of men carrying tools and explosives. "The boss thought he might be able to get you to join us. You know how to think like a crook."

"That would never happen and you know it."

Simmons smiled coldly at her. "That's what I said to the boss, but that's why he's the boss - he thinks big."

Joss pointed at the mural. "The man with the plan." Come on, _come on_, she thought, just a little bit closer.

"Yeah, he figured it all out…I just…_execute_…it."

As they neared the top of the stairs, Joss suddenly leaped over the 20 foot high balcony. Graceful as a cat, she grabbed on to some scaffolding ten feet down and then dropped silently to the floor.

"Find her!" Simmons screamed, as Joss slipped into a dark corner.

She wasn't trying to get away. There were too many of them and it was more important that she get a warning out. A man like Simmons wouldn't care if he hurt or killed people with all those explosives.

There was the sound of curses, footsteps and cocked weapons as they got closer and closer.

Joss knew that she only had a few seconds.

Cursing herself for disabling her GPS earlier that evening, she re-enabled it, then sent a text. As the men approached, Joss knocked over a huge pile of debris, praying that the noise of it falling over would mask the sound of her smashing her phone. She tossed the phone into the collapsing pile, grabbed a two by four and darted to the back of the space to await her attackers.

The Auto Shop teacher fought furiously, but she was overwhelmed and captured.

"Don't hurt her too much – yet," Simmons commanded as she was searched, bound and gagged.

The Teacher's Union head smiled again when they couldn't find her phone. "You're smart, Ms. Carter, too smart." Simmons took a huge piece of chocolate from his pocket and smeared it on Joss' cheek. "If you figured this out, we need to find out what else you know - and who else you told. Can't wait to see what it will take to make you 'sing.'"

Her stomach roiled as he slowly licked her skin clean. "Dinner – and then a show. Take her away, boys."

Blood ran down Joss' face from a cut over her eye, as Simmons led her captors out of the building.

*In 1933, nearly $145 million in public funds was appropriated for the construction of federal buildings, such as courthouses, schools, libraries, post offices and other public structures across the United States. Under the direction of the PWAP, the agency oversaw the production of 15,660 works of art by 3,750 artists. If your town has a post office or other public building constructed during that period, they may have several of these beautiful murals adorning their walls. - Wikipedia

So, how could #JossCarterIsEternal week end w/o a cliffhanger? The next chapter will be posted on December 1.

Next, Three Men, (a Dog) and a Little Lady


	9. Chapter 9: 3 Men, a Dog & a Little Lady

Chapter 9 - Three Men, a Dog and a Little Lady

"Ms. Carter is going to love this," Reese smiled softly.

"I understand that human males try to compensate for their lack of sexual prowess by acquiring large mechanical items such as motorcycles, cars and…" Bear turned his head slowly around the interior of the helicopter Reese was piloting back to Machine High.

"Bear…." The Coach warned. "Our vehicle was destroyed and this aircraft allowed us to leave the scene before the authorities arrived."

"It's just an observation, Finch. What's next, Reese, something even larger? 747? Aircraft carrier? Perhaps we should have taken that sleek Gulfsteam from the other hangar. I would have enjoyed traveling in such elegant surroundings."

Reese raised an eyebrow. "If this doesn't meet your standards, Bear, I can drop you off right here."

The Coach frowned. "But… we're hundreds of feet in the air, Mr. Reese."

Reese smirked. "We can _observe_ Bear falling to the ground, Finch. Since he's full of…_hot air_, I'm sure he'll land safely."

Bear growled softly. "Touch-_y_. Perhaps if Ms. Carter wanted to touch _you_, Reese, you'd be in a better mood." He tapped his paw on Reese's stomach. "You're getting a little soft there, John." The Security Head turned to the Coach. "Does the Machine also identify 'Paunches' as well as 'Persons' of Interest, Finch? I think Reese's Number, or at least the number of his _waistline_, is up."

Reese's voice was soft, dangerously soft, as the aircraft suddenly took a sharp turn and began climbing even higher. "_You_ keep it up, Bear, and the Machine will be identifying a 'Pooch' of Interest, but nobody's going to be coming to save you."

"John, please. I'd like us _all_ to land in one piece, _safely_."

"_He_ started it, Finch," Reese grumbled as Bear's growling became louder.

"_Enough!" _The Coach's voice suddenly took on the timbre that had 300 pound linebackers quivering in their cleats. "Neither one of you would be worthy of Ms. Carter's attention, much less her affection, with your behavior tonight. You're better men than this – act like it! At least…" his voice softened, "you'll always have her friendship, no matter what."

Reese and Bear exchanged guilty looks. Even though Finch never said why, they knew he had given up the great love of his life, Grace Hendricks, severing all communications with her, years ago.

There was a long silence and then the Cafeteria Lady and the Security Head nodded solemnly at each other.

"Sorry, Finch," Reese said gruffly.

"We'll be good," Bear added, with a soft whimper.

The three friends were lost in their own thoughts as they headed back to Machine High.

As they approached the campus, Finch frowned as he looked at a text on his phone. "We have a text from Ms. Carter, but I'm afraid I don't understand it. It says 'UXO'.

Instantly Reese and Bear were on alert. "UXO is Unexploded Ordinance – a bomb," Reese said. "Do you know where she is?"

"I'm checking now…it appears that her GPS was disabled, earlier this evening…" there was a sharp intake of breath. "She's at Machine High, in the old library. At least there was a signal there for a moment…then it went dead."

"Any other signals, Finch?" Reese asked.

"No GPS…some encrypted signals…smart," the Coach said, grudgingly, "a private communications network…and it appears that all the campus cameras have been disabled."

Bear raised his right paw. "There's a clearing in that copse of trees over there, John."

"Got it," Reese said. Shutting off the aircraft's lights, he smoothly guided the helicopter around the outskirts of campus, bringing it low to the ground.

"If there is a bomb, perhaps it will finally destroy that American made monstrosity Ms. Carter insists on driving," Bear mused.

Reese smiled as he wove the aircraft through the moonlit forest, using the trees to mask their approach. "It _is_ a classic, Bear. The 1958 Ford Thunderbird was the first model line to be declared 'Car of the Year'."

Bear huffed, "As she has told us all, many, many, times, usually after it fails to start. **F**ound **O**n **R**oad **D**ead, indeed."

"**F**ix **O**r **R**epair **D**aily," Reese replied.

"**F**or **O**ld **R**etired **D**rivers," Bear tapped a claw on his right front paw; instead of an earwig, Finch had implanted a communications device there.

"**F**ound **O**utside **R**otting **D**ump," Reese smirked as they touched down on the scrubby grass.

"**F**umes and **O**dors **R**eadily **D**etectable," Bear's nose crinkled as he leapt out of the helicopter.

"**F**ast **O**nly **R**olling **D**ownhill," Reese added as he grabbed the bag of weapons.

Their voices were light, but Finch knew that the banter between the two former spies meant this was deadly serious.

Bear raced through the trees, while the humans followed.

Several minutes later, they heard a series of low growls and yips. Reese broke out into a full run.

He paused at the edge of the trees, just barely hearing a low rustle in the clump of bushes lining a narrow pathway.

Bear slunk out from under a row of hedges. "There's activity in the old library. Men, equipment. I saw blood on the front stairs, John, and a silver earring."

Reese forced himself to stay calm. "Did you _see_ Joss?"

"No. I recognized at least one man as being on Simmons' Teacher's Union staff. He did not see me, but I know he'll recognize us, if we try to get closer. There's no cover and they have the building surrounded."

Reese cocked his weapon. "We _have_ to find her. I'm go-"

"I believe we can assist you with that, gentlemen." Charlie Burton said, as he emerged from the shadows with Antonia by his side.

The two men turned at the sound of the English teacher's voice. "Jocelyn came to see us this evening. She discovered that Quinn and Simmons are robbing Machine High. At this very moment, the school's coffers are being drained."

"I wasn't aware that you were so well acquainted with Ms. Carter, Mr. Burton, that she would take you into her confidence," Finch said cautiously as he emerged from the forest and joined them.

"We're –we knew Jocelyn when she was a child. I spent many years teaching the children of some of the most ruthless criminals in the city. I still have some connections there that Jocelyn asked me to contact tonight. Through them I was able to find out that our School Board Head will be leaving the country in a few hours."

The English teacher scratched Antonia behind her ears. "Ms. Marconi has refused to attend any Teacher's Union functions –" his eyes twinkled at her exaggerated yawn – "and I doubt that either Quinn or Simmons have ever taken more than five seconds to look at her."

"They think we all look – and _sound -_ alike," Antonia said, her muzzle twitching, then she winked at Bear.

Mr. Burton smiled at Reese, Finch and Bear's expressions at his companion being able to speak. "They certainly don't know that she can talk."

Bear and Antonia nodded formally at each other, then the Malinois tapped the communications device in his paw twice, activating a translator. "Ms. Marconi, decorum has increased markedly in the Humanities building since your arrival," the Security Head said approvingly.

"I believe in order, Mr. DeHond, or at least _my_ order," Antonia replied.

The Mob Enforcer rolled in a patch of dirt. "I'll just be a stray dog looking for some food. If she's in that building, I'll find her."

Bear's eyes glowed with admiration. "You are quite a woman."

"I'm a _lady_," Antonia shot back, then her voice became low and deadly. "If they've harmed one hair on Jossy's head, I'll kill them all."

She sprinted off into the darkness, with Bear following close behind her.

Reese turned to Finch. "We need to search the other buildings, but there are over two dozen here on campus."

Machine High was a hodgepodge of old and new buildings, several with basements and out of the way mechanical rooms. Like many institutions, significant parts of the school were lit round the clock, including vestibules, hallways and gathering spaces like the cafeteria and the chapel.

"I believe that I can help with that, Mr. Reese. There's an initiative to monitor and control Machine High buildings' environmentals remotely. It's just a prototype, but I might be able to determine if there's been any sudden increase in utility usage in a specific space."

"Feed me the information, Finch." As he strode forward, the English teacher caught his arm. "Mr. Reese, I'd like to accompany you. I'm – Jocelyn is very important to me."

Reese looked into the man's eyes, then nodded. "Follow me."

A/N: _Three Men and a Little Lady_ (1990) was the sequel to _Three Men and a Baby_ (1987)

The fun that Reese and Bear had with the name FORD was something I remembered from my childhood.

Next, Must (Not) See TV. The next chapter will be posted on Wednesday.


	10. Chapter 10: Must (Not) See TV

Chapter 10 - Must (Not) See TV

"There," Alonzo Quinn said, as he wiped the blood from Joss' face. "That looks much better. I regret having to restrain you, Ms. Carter, but Patrick says that you put up quite a fight this evening. "

The School Board Head smiled benignly at Joss as though he had just invited her to tea, instead of her being tied to a chair in that back office in the Machine High chapel.

He removed her gag. "In order to make this work, someone has to take the fall. It was going to be our corpulent Counselor, Mr. Fusco; now, unfortunately, it has to be you, my dear. A pity – my regard for Cal increased immeasurably when you began seeing each other. I would have welcomed you into my extended family."

Joss raised an eyebrow. "What was that, _The Addams Family_?"

Quinn chuckled. "Gomez _was_ a sharp dresser."

"I liked _The Munsters_, myself," Simmons added, as he swallowed another huge piece of chocolate.

Joss snorted. "_You_ would – Herman's fore –I mean, '_five_head', was almost as big as yours. And _he_ was better looking."

"Can we just kill her now, boss?"

"Patience, Patrick, patience. Funds are being transferred into an account that will be traced back to Ms. Carter, just enough to implicate her in the theft. You'll be a rich woman in a few minutes, Ms. Carter. Too bad you won't be able to enjoy it. Once all the transfers have completed, you'll go for a final jaunt in that T-bird you've been meticulously restoring."

The Auto Shop teacher nodded. "Machine High is destroyed and I get caught in the explosion trying to get away."

"You wouldn't be the first bomber to be killed by their own bomb. Your car is distinctive enough that everyone will recognize it in the wreckage."

"Why?" Joss had to ask. "You had everything – you were admired and respected by everyone. Why do this? Why destroy your legacy?"

Quinn shrugged. "Why not? I'm no longer a young man, Ms. Carter, and trust me, admiration and respect won't keep you warm at night. But, a seaside villa in a far off land with some nubile young thing sucking on…" his eyes glinted, "my _toes_, will keep me very warm indeed. Besides, you're only thinking of my public persona, the person law abiding people think I am. My real legacy will be 'getting away with it' – literally."

"Doing the crime without doing the time," Simmons smirked.

"Now," the School Board Head's eyes suddenly became flat and cold, "let's find out what you discovered."

Joss steeled herself for the first blow, but Quinn simply turned on a monitor. On the screen was the parking garage sex scene between the characters Huck and Quinn from the television show _Scandal_.

Simmons grabbed her head, putting a contraption over her face that forced her eyes open.

"A few minutes of this, and you'll beg to tell us whatever we want, Ms. Carter. Death will be a mercy," the School Board Head said smugly.

Joss began to shudder as the scene played across the screen.

XXX

"You're not just an English teacher, are you, Mr. Burton," Reese said as they completed their search of the tenth building.

"And you're not just a Cafeteria Lady, Mr. Reese," Mr. Burton replied. "You couldn't be, if you captured Jocelyn's heart."

Reese stopped walking and looked at the older man. "Has…she _said_ –"

"No. But I know her well enough to know that she cares deeply for you, Mr. Reese. As I can tell that you care deeply for her."

Reese nodded slowly. "I do, Mr. Burton. She's…everything I've ever wanted, everything I never thought I deserved."

"When we find Jocelyn, Mr. Reese, and we _will_ find her, don't wait. Tell her exactly how you feel. We don't always have," Reese saw something in the other man's eyes, but it quickly disappeared and Mr. Burton smiled softly at the Cafeteria Lady, "all the time we think we do."

"Mr. Reese," Coach Finch's voice cut in over the earwig. "Ms. Marconi's ruse worked – Ms. Carter is not in the old library…both she and Bear are on their way to you now." He paused, "She also confirmed Ms. Carter's warning; the building is set to explode. Her exact quote was, 'that place is loaded – there's enough shit in there to make Mt. Vesuvius' erupting look like a piñata at a five year old's birthday party.'"

"They're not going to just destroy the library, they're going to destroy the entire campus."

"Yes, Quinn will set the explosives off remotely, per what Ms. Marconi overhead from his associates."

"Once they've gotten whatever they want from Joss," Reese said grimly.

XXX

Death would be merciful, Joss thought, as the scene played over and over.

She could feel her body starting to short circuit as every nerve, every synapse prayed for relief.

Just a few more minutes, Joss thought, I only have to hold out for a few more minutes, then Quinn would tire of this.

They wouldn't kill her here, she knew; it would be somewhere near, or in, her car.

She might not survive, but she would take at least one of them with her, she vowed.

Just hold on, Joss told her weakening body, hold on.

XXX

As they stepped inside the twelfth building, Coach Finch hailed Reese again.

"John…there's something happening in the Machine High chapel…I'm afraid I don't understand it."

Reese took out his phone, putting it on speaker so that both he and Mr. Burton could hear the Coach. "What is it, Finch? A spike in electrical, or water use?" Reese asked, thinking of all the methods of torture Joss might be subjected to.

"No…it's… a _television_ program…it appears that someone is repeating the same scene over and over again."

"_What_ show, Finch?" The Cafeteria Lady asked urgently. He had once killed an arms merchant simply by showing the rabid Red Sox fan old footage of a crucial error by first baseman Bill Buckner during the 1986 World Series.

"…I have it…it's called…_Scandal_…it's…" they could hear the revulsion in the Coach's voice, "two people having sex in a parking garage."

"Those fiends!" The English teacher gasped. "Emergency rooms across the country the night it was broadcasted were flooded with people collapsing just from viewing it _once_. If they've played that scene over and over again while we've been searching for her –"

Reese's heart was in his mouth. "She doesn't have much time left."

They ran towards the chapel.

A/N: My apologies to _Scandal _fans!

_The Addams Family_, created by American cartoonist Charles Addams, was a satirical inversion of the ideal American family; an eccentric, wealthy clan who delight in the macabre and are unaware (or simply not caring) that people find them bizarre or frightening. They originally appeared as an unrelated group of 150 single panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in _The New Yorker_ between their debut in 1938 and Addams's 1988 death. They have since been adapted to other media, including television series (both live and animated), films, video games and a musical. Family characters include Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Wednesday, Pugsley, Cousin Itt and Thing. - Wikipedia

_The Munsters_ was a 60's American television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and the wholesome family fare of the era. - Wikipedia

Next, Taking One for the Team will be posted on Friday.


	11. Chapter 11: Taking One for the Team

Chapter 11 – Taking One for the Team

"Boss," Simmons' chin jutted at the clock on the wall, "we need to finish this."

Quinn nodded. "Yes, I suppose the time has come, Patrick. Please make sure everything is ready."

Simmons nodded and walked out of the office.

The School Board Head shut off the monitor. "Very impressive, Ms. Carter. No one else has been able to hold out for more than a few minutes before."

He removed the contraption from Joss' face and as her head fell forward, Joss glimpsed a silhouette in the window.

A dog.

No, _two dogs_, she thought, but her brain refused to accept what her eyes had just seen.

Joss took a deep breath as she tried to compose herself. "Just…lucky…I guess," she gasped out.

"Well, your luck just ran out," Simmons smirked as he walked back into the office. "Detonators are almost ready."

"Good." The School Board Head looked at his handheld. "Machine High will be penniless in a few minutes. Any last wishes, or considering where we are, final prayers, Ms. Carter?" Quinn asked.

"To see you both rot in hell," Joss said fervently.

The School Board Head chuckled. "You first, Ms. Carter. I'm sure you'll save us some seats."

XXX

"This isn't a place for civilians, Finch," Reese said tersely, as the Coach joined the Cafeteria Lady and the English teacher in the trees at the top of the hill overlooking the chapel. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to get Joss out of there."

"I'm not a civilian in this battle, Mr. Reese. Ms. Carter is dear to all of us. Besides," he said with a hint of a smile, "what sort of friend would I be, if I didn't help you save the woman you love, John."

Reese nodded, his eyes softening. "I do love her, Harold, with all my heart." He clasped the Coach's arm. "Thank you."

Bear and Antonia trotted up. "Ms. Carter is in one of the offices with Quinn and Simmons," Bear said. "There are two men at the back exit of the chapel."

"Two here at the front, and at least two more inside, I bet," Mr. Burton noted. "We're outnumbered and outgunned."

"The rest will come running from the old library once the fun starts," Reese added.

Antonia dropped a small black satchel on the ground. "We found this near the Administrative building." She flipped the flap open with her paw. "Jossy's rappelling equipment."

Reese smiled when he saw the cables in the bag. His eyes scanned the chapel and the stone steps. "Outnumbered – yes. Outgunned –", he pulled a grenade launcher out of his bag and tossed it to a startled Finch, "maybe. But outsmarted," his smile was broad now, "_never_. Let's get to work."

XXX

"I've heard of taking one for the team, but this is ridiculous," Antonia groused.

"I assure you, Ms. Marconi, I have the utmost respect for you. If there was any other way –"

"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say. You might as well call me Antonia, if we're gonna go through with this."

Bear nodded. "Antonia," he said softly. "A Roman name meaning 'priceless, praiseworthy," his eyes scanned her sleek form, "'beautiful.' And I'm -"

"_Bear-y McCociner_," she snapped, but her eyes were twinkling. "Let's get this Oscar winning performance underway."

They stepped onto the flagstone plaza in front of the chapel and began an intricate dance, nuzzling and nipping at each other, their whines and whimpers drawing the attention of the two men in front of the chapel.

Bear winked at Antonia when the men sniggered and pointed at them and she rolled her eyes, but let out a low sexy growl, bit the Security Head sharply on the ear and then scampered across the plaza, while Bear followed her.

"That was no love bite, Antonia! You punctured the skin!" he hissed.

"Love hurts, baby." She wriggled her rear end enticingly. "Assume the position, big boy," the Mob Enforcer purred.

Bear mounted her, to whistles and cheers from their audience, their attention totally on the two dogs. Their backs were to the stone steps as Reese tied one of the rappelling cables to a lamp post near the top of the steps and then laid the other one on the stairs, hiding the cable in the shadows. He carefully drew both cables to the other side of the steps, securing one to the lamp post on that side, while the other cable was draped on the ground. Reese nodded to Finch and Mr. Burton and they quickly crossed the steps while Bear pretended to have relations with Antonia, her throaty growls and sensual howls masking the sound of the humans' movements.

Finch slipped into the shrubs on the side of the hill with the grenade launcher, while the Cafeteria Lady and the English teacher descended the steps and crouched in the shadow of the chapel, waiting.

It didn't take long. They heard the sound of a handheld clicking. "Guys – you gotta come up here. These two dogs are going at it _hard_!"

When the two guards from the back of the building came around the corner, they were quickly and quietly subdued. Reese then went to the front of the chapel.

"Those who can, do, those who can't, _watch_, right, fellas?" The Cafeteria Lady smirked as he knocked the two guards out.

"Our two friends back there are secured," the English teacher said, handing Reese zip ties and duct tape.

Reese nodded towards Finch's hiding place, then raised an eyebrow at the still writhing couple on the plaza. "Bear. _Bear_?"

"Huh?" Bear gasped.

"Anytime you two are ready."

The canines disengaged, gazing shyly at each other, then joined the two humans at the chapel entrance, while the guards on the ground were bound and gagged.

Reese picked up one of the guards' handhelds. "Comin' in. Gotta take a dump," he said.

"Yeah?" a bored voice responded. "Make it quick."

"I bet they never had a date in their lives. _Losers_," Antonia growled, stepping on the guards' heads as they walked in.

Next, Don't Quit Your Day Job will be posted on December 8.


	12. Chapter 12: Don't Quit Your Day Job

Chapter 12 – Don't Quit Your Day Job

He was close.

Joss could feel it.

She hadn't been hallucinating. Those two silhouettes weren't an illusion – Bear and Antonia were working together. And if they were, so were Finch and Elias.

And John.

John was coming for her. She knew it.

"Finally, the transfers are complete," Quinn said with a smile.

Pretending still to be weakened by the torture, Joss slumped in the chair as Simmons cut the cords around her wrists, legs and waist. He roughly pulled her to her feet. "Time's up, bitch."

Joss fought against the natural instinct to try to get away now, telling herself to wait until they were in the main sanctuary.

Quinn sighed dramatically. "It all could have been so different. Instead of escorting you to your death, I could have been walking you down the aisle to marry Cal." He flung open the door to the office. "Your new bridegroom awaits, Ms. Carter – the Grim Reaper."

XXX

Guns drawn, flanked by Bear and Antonia, Reese and Mr. Burton walked into the sanctuary. The guard at the front of the room didn't even look up, intent on putting the final adjustments to a pair of detonators. The guard at the back of the room opened his mouth in shock at the visitors, but before he could react, Reese knocked him out, easing his unconscious body to the floor silently.

The Cafeteria Lady's experienced eyes swiftly scanned the space. As Mr. Burton had guessed, there were two guards on the main floor, but a fleeting shadow in the choral balcony told him there was at least one, probably two more men upstairs, and possibly more in the hallway leading to the back office where Joss was being held.

In order for his plan to work, they had to lure everyone into the main sanctuary and he needed to be as close as possible to Joss.

As he stepped forward, the hallway door opened. A guard walked out, then Simmons shoved a stumbling Joss into the room, followed by Quinn.

Reese's heart soared at the sight of her. She had a nasty cut over one eye and looked exhausted, but as her eyes met his, she nodded slightly, that brief gesture telling him everything that he needed to know – that she knew he'd come for her.

Simmons' snicker cut across the silence as the two groups faced off. "Oh, look, it's Lurch, Uncle Fester and," the Teacher's Union President sneered at the two dogs, "Cousin Itt-i-ot and Mrs. Cousin Itt-i-ot."

"You rang?" Reese smirked. His eyes softened as he gazed at the Auto Shop teacher. "You okay, Joss?" he asked, as he walked further into the room.

She shrugged. "Nothing one of your Carter Creamsicles couldn't cure, John."

"I'll make you as many as you want, Joss, whenever you want them," Reese promised as he walked closer to her.

"I'm holding you to that, John," her lips quirked as her eyes took in his companions. "And _I've _got witnesses."

"How touching. Young – well, _middle-aged_ love blossoming right before our very eyes," Quinn smiled coldly, "but I'm afraid this is as far as it will go."

The Cafeteria Lady turned to the School Board Head. "It's over, Quinn."

"_Over_?" Quinn laughed out loud. "In a few moments, this entire campus will be reduced to rubble. The soon to be late Ms. Carter will be blamed not only for destroying Machine High, but for killing several of her colleagues as well. You're outnumbered, Cafeteria Lady. If anything's over, it's this conversation, and this _damn_ school."

All pretense was gone now. Reese knew that the man who stood before him was as evil as some of the worst people he had hunted when he was in the CIA. "You never wanted Machine High to succeed, did you, Quinn?" he said, as he kept moving slowly forward.

"Of course not! This…institution…was supposed to die a quick and painless death after we milked all the construction and union contracts. A noble, but failed experiment. Why do you think we hired all of _you_? Losers, malcontents, over the hill, no experience, an _animal_ – every one of you, except for her –" he jerked his head at Joss – "has some blemish or shortcoming on your record, some reason why another school wouldn't hire you."

Reese nodded. "You're right. We're a bunch of misfits. Yet somehow we succeeded, somehow we made it work."

The Auto Shop teacher smiled. "This 'Island of Misfit Toys*' became," her eyes met Reese's and then she looked at Mr. Burton, Bear and Antonia," a family."

"Yes…" Quinn heaved an exasperated sigh, "somehow you 'Misfit Toys' did. And _somehow_ that ridiculous Coach Finch, a man who never coached a game of Tiddlywinks, much less a football team, kept winning, and with a winning program, the students and the donations kept coming. I couldn't shut down Machine High without people asking questions."

"Until Samaritan Industries came along," Mr. Burton added.

"And their tens of millions of dollars. I was already slowly diverting donations into my getaway fund, but the death of my duller than dishwater godson Cal meant I could do it all in one fell swoop. If I had known how easily his death facilitated my plans, I would have killed him myself."

Reese was just a few feet away from Joss. He tapped his earwig. "Now, Finch."

Harold's voice was tight with rage. "With _pleasure_, Mr. Reese." Outside, the Coach aimed the grenade launcher towards the chapel's glass roof and pulled the trigger.

Reese threw himself on top of Joss, Bear and Antonia rolled under a pew and Mr. Burton crouched down, holding the bag of weapons over his head.

Nothing happened.

"_Finch!_" Reese cried.

"This isn't something I do every day, John!" The Coach flipped the safety, then pulled the trigger again.

The grenade shattered the roof, causing huge shards of glass to rain down. There were screams up in the balcony, and as the shards hit light fixtures and ceiling fans, the glass splintered, showering the room with sharp needle like pieces.

Loading another grenade, Finch fired again, opening a hole in a chapel wall. As flames flickered and smoke filled the chapel, Bear and Antonia rolled out from under the pew and leapt lightly to the top of it. The two dogs then jumped from the top of one pew to the next, heading towards the front of the room.

Mr. Burton ran forward and swung the heavy weapons bag at the two stunned and bleeding guards, knocking them out. With a feral smile on his face, he plunged through the smoke, looking for Simmons.

Sheltered underneath the Cafeteria Lady's body, Joss was still, her eyes closed. His hand shaking, Reese gently cupped her cheek. "Joss? Are you okay?"

She slowly opened her big brown eyes. "You…really know how to sweep a girl off her feet, John Reese." Her eyes widened as she saw blood streaming down his arm. "John, you're hurt!" Joss cried. Pieces of glass had cut the back of Reese's uniform to ribbons and several large chunks had sliced into Reese's right arm.

"As long as you're okay, Joss, I'm fine."

As they rose to their feet, Quinn screamed as he lurched towards the pew where the detonators were kept, "I can _still_ blow this place to Kingdom Come!"

"Looking for something?" Antonia snarled between clenched teeth. Both she and Bear had a detonator in their jaws, the wires pulled out, rendering them inoperable.

Quinn stared at her with his mouth open, stupefied that she could talk.

"_Now_ he is silent," Bear said. "If I had known that I would have spoken years ago."

The two dogs leapt along the pews and then jumped through the hole and out of the building.

Mr. Burton leaned over the balcony. "The men up here are secured, John, but Simmons is missing."

"He'll have to wait. The rest of them will be here soon."

The English teacher tossed down the weapons bag. "Go. I'll take care of Quinn."

"Me _first_." Joss stepped forward and clocked the School Board Head on the chin with her fist. Quinn dropped like a stone to the floor.

Reese grinned. "You as good with a gun?"

Joss grinned back. "Better."

"Harold –" Reese held out his hand, "and I – could use your help."

She intertwined her fingers in his. "Let's go."

They followed the two dogs through the hole in the wall and out of the building.

A/N: As we know, Root has referred to Reese as Lurch, the Addams Family's butler. "You rang?" is what Lurch would say when summoned by his employers.

*The Island of Misfit Toys first appeared in the 60's television special _Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer_ as an island sanctuary where defective and unwanted toys are sent. Toys include a bird who swims instead of flies, a cowboy who rides an ostrich, a train with square wheels on its caboose, a bear on a bicycle, a boat that cannot stay afloat, a water pistol that shoots jelly and other defective inhabitants. – Wikipedia

Next, What You Owe Me will be posted on December 10.


	13. Chapter 13: What You Owe Me

Chapter 13 – What You Owe Me

Reese led Joss to the spot on the hill where Finch, Bear and Antonia were waiting to execute the next part of his plan.

The Coach smiled softly when he saw how reluctantly his friend let go of the Auto Shop teacher's hand, so that she could greet them. "It's good to see you, Ms. Carter."

"It's good to see you, too, but I think after tonight you can call me, Joss, Harold," she replied, gently squeezing his arm. "Thank you."

She turned to Bear, scratching him behind the ears. "Thank you, Bear." The Security Head began twisting his body as though he was going to roll on his back, but a death stare from Reese – and the not so subtle cocking of the Cafeteria Lady's weapon - stopped him and he simply nodded.

Joss then turned to Antonia, but before she could say anything, the Mob Enforcer rose up on her hind legs, hugging her. "_Thank you_, Toni," Joss whispered, her voice heavy with emotion as she put her arms around her childhood companion.

Antonia closed her eyes and pressed her head against Joss' chest. "We're blood, sisters. If anyone's going to kill you, Jossy, it's going to be _me_."

Joss laughed and kissed the top of her head. "Good to know. Nothing says family like death threats and automatic weapons."

"And," Reese held up the ends of Joss' rappelling cables with a rakish grin, "now it's time for some family planning."

The Auto Shop teacher raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure that's not what 'family planning' means, John, but I can't wait to see what you have in mind."

XXX

"I'm not going to kill you, Alonzo. At least not yet."

As Quinn blearily opened his eyes, they sharpened in fear as the person he knew as kind and gentle Charlie Burton slowly approached the man lying on the chapel floor. For the first time in his life, Alonzo Quinn looked into eyes as evil as his own.

"Jocelyn will want to see justice served, and she will – for a while. You'll be arrested, arraigned, begin that long, torturous path through our legal system. But make no mistake, your days on this Earth are numbered. It's just a question of when I decide to end it."

Clumsily the School Board Head tried, and failed to sit up. "Who are you? Really?"

"I'm disappointed, Alonzo. You of all people should recognize a kindred spirit."

"No…" Quinn shook his head as the realization hit him," _You_? You can't be! Elias is- but you're a good man!"

"And until this evening, I would have said the same thing about you."

As Elias zip tied Quinn's wrists and ankles, the School Board Head cried out, "I can give you whatever you want! Money! Power!"

"You don't understand, Alonzo. There's not enough money or power in this world to repay your debt. You tried to destroy someone good and pure and infinitely precious to me." He placed duct tape over Quinn's mouth, pulled him up by his hair, then whispered in his ear. "For every minute, every _second_ she suffered, you will suffer one hundred thousand times more. Then, and only when you breathe your last agonized, tortured breath, will you finally give what _You. Owe. Me!_"

Slamming Quinn's head down on the chapel floor, Elias smiled. With horrified fascination, the School Board Head watched as Carl Elias morphed back into that kind and gentle English teacher. Charlie Burton turned and walked out of the chapel.

XXX

They quickly separated into two groups: Finch, Joss and Antonia on one side of the stairs, Reese and Bear on the other.

Reese knew that their attackers would come in waves; the hotheads and newbies first, followed by the strategic thinkers and the veterans. If Mr. Burton was right about only Quinn leaving the country, it meant that Simmons was staying to take over his organization; the men would want to prove their worth and loyalty to him.

Smoke pouring out of the chapel would have alerted police and fire departments, but Machine High had a huge sprawling campus, with only pathways leading you from one building to the next; it would be several minutes before they reached the hillside, and Reese knew that they could be captured or dead by then.

"Another cinema minute, Reese," Bear mused, as Mr. Burton joined them in their hiding place.

"Cinema minute?" the English teacher asked, watching Reese complete the final preparations.

The Cafeteria Lady smiled grimly. "Countdown clock says 30 seconds left, but that 30 seconds lasts five minutes in the movies. Waiting is like a cinema minute."

They waited, and then finally, Bear cocked his head and tapped the communications device imbedded in his paw. "Footsteps, Finch."

"We're ready, Bear," the Coach replied.

As the first group of men charged down the steps, Joss and Mr. Burton pulled the cable lying on the stairs taut, and the men tripped over it, tumbling to the stone plaza below. Reese and Finch then pulled on the cable tied to the lamp posts – they had been loosened while they waited – sweeping the next group of men forward and down the steep steps as well. There were screams of agony as heads split open and bones snapped, knees were wrenched and shoulders were dislocated.

Bear and Antonia leapt into action, their sharp teeth and powerful jaws severing tendons and crushing limbs while their attackers lay sprawled on the stone plaza. Finch darted among them, taking the weapons from the groaning and bleeding men while Mr. Burton zip tied their wrists and knocked them out with the butt of his pistol.

The Cafeteria Lady and the Auto Shop teacher kept up a steady barrage of fire, Joss utilizing the weapons bag while Reese took the weapons that Finch collected from the fallen men. He smiled softly at how easily Joss switched from one weapon to the next, the unique sound of each piece alerting him to when she made a change. They kneecapped the next wave of men, then held off the ones who took cover.

Just a few more cinema minutes, Reese thought, a few more minutes.

Finally, sirens and flashing lights announced the police's arrival.

A voice echoed through a bullhorn as the officers cautiously made their approach. "Surrender! It's over."

Not yet, Reese thought. Not until he found Simmons.

XXX

Alonzo Quinn lay on the chapel floor, shaking in shock, pain and rage.

There was a scraping sound and as the School Board Head twisted his body around to see where the noise was coming from, the cover to the long unused baptismal pool opened.

A bloody apparition slowly emerged, cut Quinn loose and carefully removed the duct tape from his mouth.

The two men exchanged a long look.

Placing a gun on the floor next to his boss, Patrick Simmons slipped out of the chapel's back exit.

Next, I Am Not Alone will be posted on December 12.


	14. Chapter 14: I Am Not Alone

Chapter 14 – I Am Not Alone

Three coins flew in an arc and landed in the open space at the top of the hill.

Joss expertly shot at all three coins, sending them first in one direction, then in another.

Reese vaulted across the stone steps to her side. "Joss, what's happening?"

The Auto Shop teacher smiled. "It's Szymanski. He saw me do this at a tournament once – I beat him. He knows we're here, John. Listen."

Sure enough, the voice on the bullhorn quickly issued a coded combination of several letters and numbers. Reese realized that the police were executing a series of maneuvers that would encircle their attackers, cutting them off from approaching the chapel.

"Sit tight," Szymanski called thru the bullhorn. "We're coming."

Elias and Bear had crossed the steps as well and the four humans and two dogs all gazed at each other, unable to believe that their ordeal was almost over.

Finch let out a long breath. "We might actually survive this," he whispered shakily.

Suddenly, a voice lanced across the plaza below them.

"_Cafeteria Lady! Cafeteria Lady!"_ the voice dripping with evil and contempt, sing-songed.

Joss turned to the man she now knew that she loved with all her heart.

"Go, John," she said. "Finish this."

XXX

Patrick Simmons was the stuff of nightmares.

Covered in blood from the shattered glass, his clothes ripped and torn, light from the full moon emphasized the bones of his skull like face, his normally dead eyes blazing with fury.

As Reese crossed the stone plaza, he saw that the Teacher's Union President's nostrils were caked with a dark substance.

Cacao. Simmons had snorted it, and Reese knew that it made him even more dangerous.

"A trick with a grenade launcher and some help from your little friends. That's the only reason you beat us," Simmons sneered. He pointed at Reese's gun. "Without _that_, without _them_," his chin jutted at the gathering on the steps, "You're just some guy who serves shit on a shingle to a bunch of hormonal brats."

The Teacher's Union President's weapon clattered on the stone plaza. "Well, now it's just you and me. You're alone. What are you gonna do now, Cafeteria _Lady_?"

Reese's smile was deadly as he dropped his weapon. "Serve your narrow ass on a platter, fool."

Simmons flushed angrily and Reese knew he'd hit a sore point. "I do _not_ have a narrow ass!"

"You're right. Judging by what's on your face, you've got a _candy _ass, Patrick." Gripping the hem of his skirt, Reese ripped the side seam apart, giving his long, muscular legs room to maneuver. "And I'm going to kick not just that ass, but every inch of you into a sticky, gooey mess."

They circled each other.

Antonia leaned over to Bear. "Are they going to fight or just snipe at each other?"

"It's traditional male behavior, Antonia. I have exhibited it myself, many times," the Security Head stoutly replied.

She sighed. "Guess all men are alike, no matter what species they are."

"So you and Ms. Carter," Simmons whistled. "And here I thought she was a good girl, but all along she was giving you tune ups, huh, Reese? Got you all overheated, popped your clutch? Instead of 'burning rubber', you were burning 'rubbers' between those thighs, right?"

The Teacher's Union President jabbed at Reese, but Reese was just barely able move out of the man's way.

Simmons's lips twisted in a grotesque semblance of a smile. "Or did she play you while she was seeing Beecher…took you out for test drives, got your motor running, but just when you thought she'd close the deal and drive you home, she'd pump the brakes, went into first gear…or even neutral?"

He jabbed again; Reese blocked the blow with his injured arm, but the force of it radiated through his entire body. Simmons was fast and the cacao had made him freakishly strong.

There was a flicker of admiration in Simmons' eyes, but then he smiled again. "You know, tonight I searched your girl from top to bottom, and I did just what my daddy taught me when I was learning how to drive – took my _tiiimmme_ going around those steep curves."

Reese's jaw tightened and the Teacher's Union President's smile grew wider. "Yeah, I smelled her soft hair, felt that pretty skin. I even _tasted_ her," Simmons taunted, running his tongue slowly over his upper lip.

Consumed with a murderous rage, Reese stepped forward, connecting with a blow of his own, but he missed a flash of silver as Simmons suddenly pulled out a knife concealed in his belt and slashed Reese's chest, the blood spreading like a wave across his white shirt.

Finch gasped, and the English teacher began raising his weapon, as if he was going to fire, but Joss touched his arm. "No. Don't."

"Joss –" the Coach protested, but the Auto Shop teacher shook her head. "John knows what he's doing."

For a moment her eyes met the Cafeteria Lady's and she gave the slightest nod.

Reese felt the friendship, the trust, the confidence, the belief of the group gathered on the hill.

Finch, Bear, Mr. Burton, Antonia.

_Joss. _

The Cafeteria Lady ripped off his shredded, sodden shirt and undershirt. He wrenched his skirt free from his waist and wrapped it around his injured arm, creating a makeshift shield, while his starched white briefs, torn by his sudden movement, drifted slowly to the ground.

Reese's long, lean body gleamed in the moonlight, sleek muscles rippling as he faced his adversary.

Simmons stepped back at the look in Reese's eyes.

They circled each other again, silently now, with only the sound of fists hitting flesh, a knife swooshing through the air and their grunts and groans, punctuating every attack and counter attack.

Finally Reese knocked the knife out of Simmons' hand.

With a roar of disbelief, the Teacher's Union President rushed the Cafeteria Lady. As the two men grappled, Reese could feel the strength from the cacao ebbing from Simmons' body.

"You're wrong," Reese said quietly to the other man.

"Wrong about _what_?" The Teacher's Union President rasped, taken off guard by the Cafeteria Lady's soft confident voice.

Reese pivoted and struck Simmons in the chest.

"_I"_

The next blow hit Simmons in the stomach, causing Simmons to stumble.

"_Am"_

As Simmons' legs spread apart to try to steady himself, Reese grabbed the Teacher's Union President's right arm.

"_Not_"

Simmons screamed as Reese broke his arm.

"_Alone!" _

With a savage uppercut, Reese sent the Teacher's Union President crashing to the ground, his head hitting the flagstones with a sickening crunch. Simmons lay there, feebly trying to, but unable, to get up.

"You're wrong," Reese said again. He turned to the gathering on the hill. "I am not alone."

XXX

Joss hurried down the stone steps. Her only thought was to get to a battered, bleeding and spent John, who had dropped to his knees next to a barely conscious Simmons.

Eyes locked on each other, neither one saw Alonzo Quinn emerging from the chapel, gun in hand.

"You took everything from me, now I will take _her_ from all of you!" he screamed.

Everything was in slow motion: John leaping to his feet, Bear racing across the plaza, Antonia's howl of rage, Harold frozen in shock.

Quinn fired.

Joss felt a searing pain as she crashed to the ground. Dazed, she heard rather than saw John and Bear immobilize the crazed School Board Head.

Slowly she realized that Antonia's howl of rage had become a howl of mourning.

Elias.

Elias had shoved her aside; the bullet had grazed her arm, but hit the mobster in the chest.

He'd saved her life.

Joss crawled over to his side. Antonia was right. He only had a few minutes left.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, taking his hand. "I never meant for this to happen."

"Don't be. Men like me die alone, in the street or in prison. We don't say what we should say, what we _need_ to say, to the ones we love." Elias smiled as he gazed at her. "From the moment I held you in my arms, I knew you were special. You were to be my legacy, Jocelyn; you and your children and your children's children would rule the city. My empire – _our_ empire, would last forever."

He closed his eyes, as pain wracked his body, then he opened them again. "I was wrong. You _are_ my legacy, Jocelyn, but it's in every good thing you've done, everyone you've helped. It's in those who care about you, those who," he nodded to Reese, "love you. _That, _not money, or power, will last forever."

He turned his head to the Mob Enforcer. "Antonia, you will execute my final instructions."

She nodded sadly. "I'll see to it."

"Thank you, my fierce and faithful friend."

With a soft whimper, Antonia laid her head on his arm and closed her eyes.

Eyes dimming, he turned to Joss again. "When you were a little girl, I was your hero. Thank you, for letting me be your hero one last time, Jocelyn."

Tears fell from Joss' eyes as she kissed his cheek. "Elias - _Papa_, I –"

"I know, sweetheart, I know. It was lovely to see you again, Jossy."

With a smile on his face, Carl Elias breathed his last breath.

Next, The Man in a Suit will be posted on Wednesday, December 17th. Just a few more chapters to go, and yes, there will be romance!


	15. Chapter 15: The Man in a Suit

Chapter 15 – The Man in a Suit

A/N: This chapter is long and little clunky, as we touch base with a number of folks, and start tying up some threads as this story begins to come to a close.

"This is _not_ what I meant by Community Relations!"

Zoe Morgan gasped as she surveyed the scene. Flames were shooting out of the Machine High chapel, the ground was littered with broken, bleeding bodies and handcuffed men were being herded into several police vans that had somehow managed to squeeze their way down the narrow paths.

Crowds had gathered along hastily erected police barricades and the _Ledger's_ Maxine Angelis, jaw stretched in a wide, ghoulish grin, winked at the Marketing and Community Relations Liaison as she spoke to a television reporter. "I'm here at Machine High, where they teach the three Rs – Rampagin', Riotin' and Rumblin'…"

Ms. Morgan threw up her hands. "How – I am _never_ going to be able to fix this!"

"Coulda been worse," Fusco said as he walked up beside her. "At least they didn't get a shot of a naked Wonderboy."

"John – _naked_?" her voice cracked. "_Totally_ naked?"

"Yep. From his neck to his knees. Only things he had on were his hairnet, support hose and shoes. Reese could have a whole new career as the 'Thunder Down Under', if you get my drift," the Counselor chuckled. "Dude is _packin'_."

"Damn! Damn! Damn!" Ms. Morgan cried, as tears sprung to her eyes.

Fusco tilted his head at her. "You okay?" he asked softly. "You want a soda or somethin'?"

The Liaison looked at him as though she was seeing the Counselor for the first time. "Yes," she nodded slowly, "a soda would be nice."

Fusco extended his arm towards the parking lot. "I got an emergency twelve-pack in my car. This way."

XXX

"Could you give us a few minutes, Mary?"

Nurse Abbott was one of a virtual battalion of medical personnel who had been sent to the site to tend to the wounded. She had worked with Joss several years ago uncovering a baby snatching ring, and while she raised an eyebrow at the Auto Shop teacher's request, she nodded to her friend and left Joss and her visitor alone.

Antonia jumped into the ambulance. "I've made the final arrangements," she said softly.

"Thank you, Toni." Joss reached out and stroked the top of the Mob Enforcer's head, and Antonia sighed and put her head on the Auto Shop teacher's thigh. For a few moments, the two women comforted each other in their grief, then the sleek dog raised her head and began to speak. "He left everything to you – "

Joss shook her head vigorously. "I don't want it. It's –"

Antonia pressed her paw against the Auto Shop teacher's leg. "Let me finish. He was ill, Jossy, dying." Her ears twitched at Joss' unspoken question. "No, I didn't know for the longest time; you do remember who raised us?"

They shared a wry glance and then Antonia continued. "He swore me to secrecy once I found out. Most of his holdings have been transitioned into legitimate businesses and sold off. I'll dismantle what's left."

Joss couldn't believe what she was hearing. "It's all gone, the whole organization?"

"The men you knew are either dead or in prison, Jossy, and the young ones don't have the stones to take over, much less hold on to it. You were the only one who could have done it." Her eyes gleamed in admiration. "Everything you did tonight proved it. You would have made a good leader, a true Boss."

Antonia's eyes softened. "Coming to Machine High was a last ditch effort to get you to take over, but when he saw during the year he was here everything you accomplished, everyone you helped, and, how happy you were…he loved you, Jossy."

The Auto Shop teacher nodded. "And I loved him." She shook her head again. "But the money…I don't want it or need it, Toni."

"It's yours, Jossy, whether you like it or not." The Mob Enforcer tilted her head at Joss. "Look, if you really want to make peace with being his kid, take the money and do something," her upper lip curled, " 'good' with it." Antonia's muzzle twitched. " 'Course, if I were you, I'd spend it on cold tropical drinks and hot cabana boys, but that's just me."

Joss smiled softly. "What about you, Toni? What will you do?" She reached out and stroked her head again. Antonia hadn't just lost someone she loved, she'd lost her whole world.

The Mob Enforcer closed her eyes. "I don't know, Jossy. I always thought I'd die before he did. Guess I need to make some plans of my own."

XXX

"How many?"

John Greer walked slowly onto the site, accompanied by his CEO, Martine Rousseau. The flames from the burning chapel emphasized the deep wrinkles of his face as he impassively surveyed the chaotic scene in front of him.

"Four humans…" Ms. Rousseau tilted her head, listening. "And two…_dogs_."

The Samaritan Industries head raised an eyebrow. "_Impressive_. They defeated a much larger, well organized and heavily armed force."

"You did say that you wanted fighters."

"Yes, Ms. Rousseau, but I meant fighters for _us_, under our command. Machine High was to be expanded over time into a cradle thru college operation, with students indoctrinated from birth into fulfilling the destinies we've decreed for them." He smiled thinly. "Alonzo Quinn's treachery was fortuitous. If these…individuals could band together in one evening and thwart his plan, imagine what they could do if they had an inkling of ours."

"And the funds Quinn stole?" Ms. Rousseau tilted her head at him. "Apparently, Quinn initiated some doomsday scenario before he shot and killed the English teacher. Account numbers, routes, everything's been obliterated. We haven't been able to find a trace."

This time Greer's smile was broad. "If he can't have it, nobody else can." His eyes surveyed the scene again, then he shrugged. "It's only money, Ms. Rousseau. The real currency – bravery, intelligence, loyalty, teamwork – was on display here tonight."

"They'll need it," she replied. "When word gets out about what happened here this evening, this school won't exist much longer."

"Yes," Greer nodded, "the students, faculty and staff will scatter to the four winds. Our former School Board Head could have the last laugh. 'Saving' Machine High may have destroyed it forever."

XXX

"Hold still!" Dr. Megan Tillman snapped as she adjusted the bandages around Reese's torso. "You are the world's worst patient, John."

"It's good I have the world's best doctor, then, Doc," Reese smirked.

Dr. Tillman shook her head, then smiled. "Well, it's thanks to you that I'm still a doctor. Give me a couple of more minutes, and you can get out of here."

Reese sighed, stilling his body to let her work. He was anxious to get to Joss, who he knew was being attended to in another ambulance. Both Finch and Bear had assured him that she was alright, but Reese needed to see for himself, not only to make sure that she was okay, but to just be with her.

He'd tried to wave off being treated to stay with Joss, but after a stern lecture from Finch and a snapping of teeth from Bear, he relented, and as the doctor taped his freshly cracked ribs from one of Simmons' blows, Reese conceded that his friends were right.

Finally satisfied with her work, Dr. Tillman gently squeezed his uninjured arm and dismissed him. Reese tightened the blanket wrapped around his body and climbed out of the ambulance, just in time to see Ms. Marconi emerge from the one where Joss was.

The sleek dog jerked her head towards the vehicle. "Jossy's alone." Her dark eyes scanned his blanket clad frame sardonically. "You're not a hot cabana boy, but I guess you'll do."

Reese smiled at her. "Glad I have your approval, Ms. Marconi."

"You do," her eyes twinkled, "for now. And you can call me Antonia," she added as she trotted away.

Reese slipped into the ambulance. The cut over Joss' eye and the one on her arm from the bullet grazing her had been neatly bandaged and Joss was hooked up to a machine injecting her with a serum that would help counteract the effects of the torture she had been subjected to.

She gave him that slight nod as he closed the ambulance doors.

They were alone.

It wasn't what he had dreamed of – surrounded by cold metal, the smell of antiseptic, he had a blanket wrapped around his naked body, they were both battered and exhausted, and she had suffered a terrible loss, but finally, it was just him and Joss.

"I'm sorry, Joss."

"Thank you. I spent so many years hating him…" Joss took a deep breath, "…it's going to take me a while to sort through everything…"

Reese sat down, taking her hand. "The bad, and the good."

"Yeah…" She squared her soldiers and looked Reese right in the eye. "I'm a Mob princess. Carl Elias' adoptive daughter. I could boost a car before I could read. That's how I know so much about them."

Reese gazed into her big brown eyes. "I'm an international spy and assassin. I killed people using bad food. That's how I really learned to cook."

Joss reached up and slowly took off his hairnet, tossing it aside.

Reese knew that she was seeing the cook and the assassin, the good man and the bad, and finally, just him. There was no censure or judgment in her eyes, just acceptance and curiosity.

Her smile was sweet and shy. "It's nice to meet you, John."

His smile was shy as well. "It's nice to meet you, too, Joss."

He tilted his head towards the ambulance doors. "Can I…buy you a cup of coffee, Joss? There's a diner nearby, Lyric's, that should be open soon."

Joss raised an eyebrow. "I think you'd have to have a bit more on than just a blanket, John."

Reese smirked at her. "I've got a suit in my locker. Ten minutes."

As he stood up, Joss intertwined her fingers in his. "You came for me," she whispered.

With his other hand, Reese reached out and cupped her cheek, and while his hand had shook before with fear when he touched her, now it was shaking with the love that he felt for this incredible woman.

"I would go through hell and back again for you, Joss, a thousand times over."

Her eyes shone with a light that thrilled and humbled him. "And I would do the same for you. Five minutes, John. Hurry."

XXX

Joss disconnected the IV and stepped out of the ambulance. She knew that she'd get yelled at by Mary, and she smiled, John, for cutting her treatment short, but she needed to see for herself how the mop up of the site was going.

Detective Bill Szymanski smiled as he waved her over. "You should have warned me about your Security Head, Carter. Thought he was going to bite me if I didn't move fast enough."

"Give him time, Szymanski, give him time."

Bear was herding the last group of men into the police vans, forceful and focused on his work, while Antonia sat and watched with an appraising look on her face.

"He's good, Carter. A little…" Szymanski smirked, "over_bear_ing, but good. Wish we had an elite dog like him on the force."

"Yeah, he's a good man, and a good friend."

Joss listened intently as the Detective updated her. While the fire department had been able to rescue the men tied up in the chapel, flames had spread to auxiliary oil tanks under the stone plaza, and the building was expected to explode at any moment. The wounded prisoners had been transported to a prison hospital, and the explosives in the old library had quickly been removed. Every building on campus had been thoroughly searched to make sure there weren't any booby traps or hidden pockets of men either planning to escape or launching another attack.

"I did what you asked, Carter, and kept your names out of it. As far as anybody knows, this was a battle between cops and crooks. You and the other staffers just happened to be here when the shooting started." He lowered his voice. "You sure about this, Joss? What you guys did here was monumental. The bomb squad told me that the stuff in the library would have taken out more than this campus. You saved a lot of lives tonight."

"I'm sure. We just want to move forward." She tilted her head at him. "And it's not a total lie. You're saying that it was an undercover cop who found out what was happening here tonight…they say you never really give up the badge, Bill."

He chuckled. "Yeah, once a cop, always a cop. I can see you takin' down perps in the nursing home fifty years from now. Hey, before you leave, there's somethin' I want you to see."

Szymanski led her to two police cruisers. Alonzo Quinn was huddled in the back seat of one, shaking uncontrollably, his normally rich brown skin mottled, shrunken and gray. On the cruiser's computer was the same scene that Joss had been tortured with.

"Figured what was good for the goose, was good for the gander."

Joss' face hardened as she looked at the man who had killed her father. "Equal opportunity for all."

"Yeah, thought you'd appreciate that. We're taking him and Simmons downtown for questioning. Thought we'd soften them up first. It's working with Quinn, but not with his guy."

"It wouldn't." Joss walked over to the other cruiser. "Put him on a restricted diet. Nonfat, no sugar and absolutely," she looked Simmons in the eye, "NO chocolate."

"You got it," Szymanski nodded.

For the first time Patrick Simmons showed real fear.

"Yeah," Joss winked at him. "Dinner, and then a show."

Simmons' wails could be heard as the police cruisers pulled away.

XXX

Reese dressed quickly, then pulled out a leash from the top shelf of his locker. As he reached in the back of the shelf for another leash, a flash of red caught his eye.

It was a beautiful shawl, dark red, shot through with gold threads.

The Cafeteria Lady had bought it last year on impulse at the school's annual holiday bazaar, telling himself that Joss could use it in the sometimes drafty Auto Shop, but that afternoon, Beecher had walked into the staff lounge and smugly announced that he and Joss were seeing each other.

Reese had never given it to her, his dreams full of Joss waiting for him in their apartment, wearing nothing but that shawl, the rich fabric highlighting her gleaming shoulders and full breasts, laughing in delight as he pulled it free from her glorious curves, and hungrily wrapped her with his own body.

They would sink down to the floor as he made love to her over and over again, on the floor, the bed, the couch, and every inch of the home they'd make together.

He'd wake up, reaching for her, only to find himself alone in bed, the shawl mocking him every time he went to work and opened his locker. Reese thought about giving it away, or even throwing it out, but he couldn't, craving the dream every time he closed his eyes at night.

He smiled, grabbed the other leash, and the shawl, then closed the locker door.

XXX

Szymanski escorted Joss back to the cluster of emergency vehicles still at the site. As rumors of the chapel's imminent explosion spread, the crowd was being pushed to the rear of the parking lot, while news cameras were jostling for the best position to film the blast. A bevy of high ranking officials from various municipal departments were readying their prepared statements, and entrepreneurs were already designing 'Chapocalypse' merchandise on their handhelds.

The Auto Shop teacher and the Detective smiled knowingly at each other; the next phase of the news cycle had begun.

"You wanna get a coffee, Joss?" Szymanski asked. "It's going to be a while before they get everybody booked. I don't need to go downtown right away. We could talk, catch up with each other."

"Thanks, but I've already got plans." Her eyes lit up as John strode purposely towards her.

Szymanski followed her gaze, then he smiled ruefully. "Take care, Joss."

Joss touched his sleeve. "You too, Bill, and thank you."

As Joss started walking towards John, she heard Maxine Angelis' excited voice over the noise of the crowd. "So you're saying, that there will be no more funding, at all? Can I quote you on that?"

Joss paused, recognizing John Greer and Martine Rousseau from their visits to the school.

"You may, Ms. Angelis. This is not an institution that Samaritan Industries, or," Greer's eyes glinted, "any other corporation or charitable group would want to be associated with. I'm sure Machine High's fine students would be readily accepted at any one of the city's prestigious schools immediately. Their futures needn't be impacted by what transpired here tonight."

Ms. Rousseau nodded. "We'll be meeting with…" she tilted her head, "J E Hoover High later today to discuss funding opportunities."

As they turned to leave, Ms. Angelis spotted Joss listening. "How about you, Ms. Carter? Ready to give another eulogy?"

"Machine High isn't dead, Ms. Angelis. It will be back, stronger than ever."

The newspaper reporter's smile grew even wider, her eyes darting toward Greer and Ms. Rousseau, as they turned and listened to the exchange. "Oh, come on – the founder's a crook, the school's broke and after John Greer's comments, nobody's going to give a dime to this place."

The Auto Shop teacher nodded. "Alonzo Quinn was the founder, but he wasn't Machine High. 'This place' is a lot more than him. It's going to take time and hard work, but we're a," her eyes glowed softly at John, Finch, Bear and Antonia, who stood quietly off to the side, "family. We care about each other and we care about this school. We'll make it work."

Ms. Angelis shrugged. "Maybe, but you still need money."

Joss glanced at Antonia. "There…might be some funding from another source."

The newspaper reporter leaned forward. "Really? Who? Someone famous or noteworthy?"

"Charlie Burton," Joss said softly.

"Oh." Ms. Angelis frowned. "But –" she glanced at her notes, "wasn't he just an English teacher?"

Joss smiled. "Yeah. He was. He was also my father."

Leaving a silent and bewildered Ms. Angelis, Joss began to walk towards her friends.

She felt a pair of eyes boring into her.

Joss stopped, gazing calmly into John Greer's pale eyes.

The Samaritan Industries Head nodded, bowed slightly, then turned towards the parking lot.

XXX

"Glad to see you're making friends, Joss," Reese smirked as she joined the group.

"I got bored." She gave him that look. "And it took you longer than five minutes."

"I had to get you something…" he held up the shawl, the gold threads shimmering in the light from the burning chapel.

"John…" Joss whispered, as she fingered the soft fabric. "It's beautiful."

"Your sleeve got torn where the bullet hit you..." He wrapped the shawl around her body, unable to hide the naked desire in his eyes, his long fingers lingering on her shoulders.

Joss reached up with her uninjured arm and touched his hand. "Thank you." They stared at each other, until Finch's delicately, then forcefully clearing his throat, caused them to finally step apart.

"Wooooooo." Antonia blew out a long, slow breath. "Serious eye sex. That was hotter than Bear pretending to slip me his wienerwurst."

"Bear pretended to _sl_-" Joss held up her hands, shaking her head. "I don't want to know."

"Unfortunately, some of us can't say the same," the Coach sighed. "You weren't the only one subjected to torture last night."

The Cafeteria Lady smirked, while Finch pointedly ignored the glares from the two dogs.

"We should leave before it gets light." Reese turned to the Coach. "We're going to Lyric's. You're welcome to join us, Finch."

"Thank you, Mr. Reese, but in this case," Finch smiled at his friends, "five is definitely a crowd."

His face grew solemn as he turned to the Auto Shop teacher. "I attempted to do what you asked, Joss, but I was unsuccessful."

"It was a long shot, but thank you for trying, Harold."

The Coach nodded and slipped away into the crowd.

The Cafeteria Lady pulled the two leashes out from his jacket pocket. The sky was beginning to lighten; if they remained on campus any longer, their bruises and bandages could lead to questions about what actually happened here. Anyone who did manage to tear their eyes away from the impending explosion would simply see a couple – Reese smiled at that thought – with their two dogs.

As he bent over to attach a leash to Bear's collar, a fireball from the burning chapel suddenly arched across the sky, landing squarely on Joss' Thunderbird, setting it ablaze.

"My car!" Joss cried.

Firefighters raced to put out the flames, but it was clear that it was a total loss.

Reese and Bear looked at each other. Reese fought not to smile, while Bear's muzzle twitched.

"Don't you dare!" Joss glared at them.

"We didn't say anything, Joss," Reese protested, smirking.

She folded her arms. "I _know_ what you're thinking." The Auto Shop teacher then turned to attach a leash to Antonia's collar.

"**F**ork **O**ver **R**epair **D**ough," Bear whispered.

Reese whispered back, "**F**lipped **O**ver '**R**ecked **D**isaster."

"I heard that!"

XXX

"I think the earth just moved, Lionel," Ms. Morgan sighed from the back seat of his car.

"A fireball just took out Carter's ride, Zoe. Shook the whole damn parking lot."

"It did…but that's not what I'm talking about." Astride the Counselor, Ms. Morgan wrapped her legs tighter around Fusco's waist, while she nuzzled his neck. "John might be the Thunder Down Under, but you're the Stealth Bomber..." her eyes drifted downward. "I didn't realize there was all that 'meat' under the potatoes.*"

Wriggling over the front seats, the Liaison riffled through her purse, holding up a key card. "What do you say we spend the rest of the day in the Coronet Hotel's Presidential Suite?"

Fusco shrugged. "Sure…but I won't have to try on a bunch of uniforms, right?"

"No, Lionel," she purred. "I don't think you'll be wearing much at all."

"They serve falafels there?"

"It's the Presidential Suite. They can make you whatever you want," she drew the card between her breasts, smiling as he groaned, "_whenever_ you want it, 24/7."

"Good," he reached up, took the key card out of her hand and kissed her. "I have a feeling I'm gonna need the energy."

XXX

"Great speech. I almost believed it myself."

Reese rolled his eyes. "What are you doing here, Pierce?"

"I'm not talking to you, Vice President of Dullness Al _Bore**_, I'm talking to _her_."

Logan Pierce swept past the Cafeteria Lady and stood in front of Joss. "Logan Pierce: genius, billionaire entrepreneur, sex god and the man who's going to make all your dreams come true."

The Auto Shop teacher took a step back. "Do…we…know each other?"

"Nope, never met. I'm the guy bankrolling the New Technologies department at Fitzhugh Quinnell – can't be bothered with meetings, interviews, boring stuff like that. Rather spend my time eating bacon wrapped hot dogs on Coney Island – hey, isn't there a nurse from here who ate like 70 footlongs?" He waggled his eyebrows. "Like to see what else she can swall –"

"_Pierce,_" Reese warned.

"Okay, okay. You saved my life, like three times, remember? Maybe this is the reason why." The entrepreneur turned back to Joss. "I read your resume, scanned through the vids from your interviews for the New Technologies gig. I thought you were interesting before, Ms. Carter, but you're," he winked at Reese, "absolutely _fascinating_ now. You left ol' Maxine there flapping her gums, and John Greer actually _bowed_ to you – I bet the creaky Crypt Keeper will feel _that_ tomorrow."

"Is this…_leading_ somewhere, Mr. Pierce?" Joss asked.

"Clock's ticking, _Logan_," Reese growled.

Pierce held up a hand, then he suddenly became serious. "I'm going to double the endowment for the New Technologies department and insist that you lead the entire group. If you almost got me to believe that family and hard work spiel you were giving Maxine, you can do anything, Ms. Carter. I want you on the FG team. You'd be great with the students, their parents and the administration. You're not only good at what you do, you believe in it, and that's rare."

"I appreciate the offer, Mr. Pierce, but I meant what I said. I'm going to stay at Machine High."

"_Stay? HERE?_" the entrepreneur sputtered. "You're going to stay _here_? You're turning _ME_ down? You're the second person to turn me down. First _him_, now you!" He shook his finger at the Cafeteria Lady. "You're a bad influence."

"That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Pierce," Reese smirked.

"What if I triple the endowment, Ms. Carter? I can take you to dinner – there's this place in St. Petersburg that serves the world's best pierogies - we could talk it over," Pierce wheedled.

Joss shook her head. "Thanks, but no. I'm going to notify FG's search committee later today that I'm turning the offer down."

"But – Joss, I can call you Joss, right? I -"

Reese's face turned to stone. "The lady's given you her answer, Pierce."

"But I haven't even –"

Reese leaned forward, his soft voice even softer still, as he grabbed the man by the arm and firmly steered him towards the parking lot. "_Leave. __Now_."

"John! What are you doing?" Pierce cried.

"Saving your life. _Again_."

Pierce suddenly looked down. Bear's and Antonia's sharp teeth gleamed in the darkness, their eyes feral and murderous, glowing from the light from the fire. He raised an eyebrow. "So much for man's best friend."

"We are _her_ best friend, not yours!" Bear growled through the translator.

Pierce jumped as Antonia jutted her head forward, snapped her jaws and then winked at him.

Muttering to himself, Pierce stalked away. They watched as he suddenly veered off and headed towards Greer and Ms. Rousseau, who were getting into a chauffeured vehicle.

Pierce touched the CEO's arm. "Plastic. K_new_ it!" Chortling, he vanished into the crowd.

"Friend of yours, John?"

Reese sighed. "It's a long story, Joss."

The Auto Shop teacher raised her eyebrows. "I'll look forward to hearing all about it – I think."

The Cafeteria Lady tilted his head at her. "You sure you want to stay here, Joss? You could accept Pierce's offer, or take your father's money and do whatever you want with it."

Joss smiled at him. "I spent a long time looking for a home, and I finally found it. Machine High is my home. "_You_," she looked at Bear and Antonia, then her eyes finally settled on Reese, "are my home."

"Besides," her eyes slowly scanned Reese's body, then she took his hand. "I plan on spending a lot of time getting to know the man in a suit."

* "Wow! All this meat and no potatoes." - Mae West said this in the 1978 film _Sextette_ when she walked into a gym full of muscular men, including a young Tom Selleck.

** Al Bore – there were numerous jokes about US Vice President Al Gore's formal, some said boring demeanor, including this one: "Q: How can you tell Al Gore apart from a group of Secret Service Agents? A: He's the stiff one.

Next, Three Little Words will be posted on December 31st.


	16. Chapter 16: Three Little Words

Chapter 16 – Three Little Words

A/N: A quiet chapter, as we get close to the end.

Crowds were streaming towards Machine High and traffic had come to a complete standstill. While passersby were fixated on the smoke and explosions coming from campus, they couldn't help but notice the couple walking against the crowd with their two dogs.

It wasn't just their physical beauty - and they were all extraordinarily beautiful - but it was the way they moved.

The man and the woman held hands and as the crowd surged around them, sometimes they would unlink their fingers to let others pass, sometimes one would be ahead or behind the other, but they always would join hands smoothly again, sharing soft smiles as their fingers sought out and intertwined together.

Their four legged companions moved easily with them as well, and if a few people thought that the smaller, sleek dog winked at them if they stared at the foursome a little too long, they shook their heads as they walked by, telling themselves that they were just imagining it.

XXX

Harold Finch had to sit down.

He had wandered aimlessly through the city, until his body screamed for relief.

Suddenly a pay phone rang.

Heart sinking, Finch hobbled over.

A mechanical voice gave him an address.

Mystified, Finch crossed the street. There was a small park, nestled behind two buildings. Unless you were looking for it, you would never know it was there.

"Thank you," he murmured softly.

As he gratefully sank down on a park bench, the Coach thought about what an extraordinary night it had been. Every high and low had been experienced; grief and joy, hate and love, trust and betrayal, heroism and cowardice, secrets and revelations.

There had been laughter and tears, hope and despair, tragedy and triumph.

And finally, there had been the realization of an epic, life changing love between two incredible people that he was proud and humbled to call his friends.

As he slipped away into the crowd, Harold knew that John Reese and Jocelyn Carter would face their pasts, and their future, together.

For a moment, Finch let the feelings of loneliness and loss flow over him, but then he shook his head, closing his eyes.

His loneliness was caused by the choices he'd made and his loss by the secrets he still kept.

"Harold?"

The Coach opened his eyes, startled at the soft, wondering voice.

He had to be dreaming.

It was Grace, her red hair glowing in the early morning light.

"Grace – I – I'm sorry, I'll leave," Finch started to stand up, but she shook her head. "No, sit, Harold, please. You look exhausted."

She smiled at his bewildered expression at her sudden appearance. "I'm doing a series of paintings for the community group that takes care of this park for their annual auction. They wanted views of the space at different times of day, and I decided to capture the park just as it was waking up."

Grace held up her sketch pad and Harold couldn't help but smile at the detailed rendering. He knew that the talented artist would work tirelessly until that sketch became a vivid portrait.

"It's beautiful. Your work – _everything_," he whispered, gazing at her, "is so beautiful."

"Thank you…" Something flickered in her eyes, but then she smiled again, sadly this time. "Take care, Harold."

Before she could walk away, the Coach clumsily jumped up and touched her arm. "Grace – please, don't go. I – there's something I need to say to you."

"Don't –" She took a deep breath. "Whatever you had to say, you should have said a long time ago, Harold, before you –" Grace looked away, blinking back tears, "- left me."

"You're right, Grace. I should have."

Grace slowly turned her face to his.

"What I did was stupid, selfish and cruel. Sorry is such an inadequate word, but I am deeply, deeply sorry."

He took her hand, the last words of the man who died on that stone plaza echoing in his mind. "It was lovely to see you again, Grace."

As Finch stumbled away, her soft voice called out to him. "Harold. Wait."

The Coach turned around. Grace pulled a Thermos out of her bag. "It's probably lukewarm, but it looks like you could use the caffeine."

They sat down on the park bench together and Grace poured him a cup.

Finch sighed as he sipped it. It was lukewarm, but this morning, it was the most delicious tea he had ever tasted. "Thank you." He took a long deep breath. "I've had the most extraordinary evening…I'd like to tell you about it, and… some other things I should have shared with you a long time ago."

XXX

John Reese couldn't stop smiling, he just couldn't.

Those muscles, so rarely used, were aching in rebellion, but each time Reese would try to stop smiling, he'd start grinning again.

He just couldn't help it.

Being with Joss, walking with Joss, holding her hand –

Every time their fingers linked again, his smile became even wider.

The dark red shawl showed off her black catsuit beautifully, framing the curves of her full breasts rising out of the suit's deep v-neck, hugging her tiny waist and then shimmying back and forth across her luscious bottom in a way that was driving Reese to utter distraction.

Her hair spilled over her shoulders, gleaming in the early morning light, her skin was glowing and even the bandage over her eye gave her a rakish air, telling the world that she was someone who was ready for anything.

She was beautiful, but it was the sense of calm exuding from Joss that made him smile most of all.

Reese knew that Joss still had a lot to deal with concerning the death of her father, but he could tell that something had been lifted off her shoulders, that she no longer needed to hide her past from the ones she cared about the most.

She squeezed his hand and he turned his face to look at her, Joss gave him that little nod.

Reese's grin got even wider as they walked down the street.

XXX

Lyric's was on a side street, several blocks from Machine High. Normally busy, the narrow, tree lined lane was deserted as crowds headed towards the school.

As Reese, Joss, Bear and Antonia turned the corner, they heard the sound of a trumpet playing. Reese smiled at Bear, and Bear let out a short happy bark.

A teenage boy put the instrument in its case on a small sidewalk table and called out. "Travis! John and Bear are here, and they've got _baes_ with them!" He rushed over, gave Reese a huge hug, and then bent down and hugged Bear, ruffling his fur.

Reese introduced Joss and Antonia to Darren McGrady, and as he led them to the sidewalk table, a tall, serious looking young man, hand in hand with a slim, beautiful young woman walked out of the diner. "It's good to see you, Mr. Reese," he smiled softly as he shook Reese's hand.

"I asked you to call me John, Travis, please."

"I feel strange calling my principal investor by his first name," he protested. "Lisa, Darren and I wouldn't have this place without you."

"I just gave you some money, you made everything else work."

Introductions were quickly made all around, and as Reese and Joss sat down, Darren's watch beeped. "Gotta go. Rehearsal before first period. Nice to meet you, Ms. Carter, Ms. Marconi. " With the awkward grace unique to teenagers, he closed his instrument case, swung his backpack over his shoulder, clasped his brother's hand and kissed his sister-in-law on the cheek.

Leaning down to Bear, Darren whispered loudly, "Go ahead, _Romeo._" He patted Bear's flanks, then winked at Reese. Laughing at their expressions, he headed off towards the subway.

"We'll bring out coffee and broth," Travis said. "Anything you want – it's on the house." The couple slipped inside the diner.

"We met Travis a few years ago," Reese told Joss. "He was trying to do it all, take care of his brother, manage a chicken joint and go to culinary school – a _real_ culinary school," he added with a smirk. "Some punks tried to take advantage of Lisa, he drove them off, got targeted by them. They tried to kill him, then grabbed Darren and Lisa."

"And you and Bear and Finch helped them. That's what you were doing earlier last night, wasn't it?" she tilted her head at him. "Helping people."

"Yes." Reese leaned forward. "I know it sounds strange…"

Joss smiled. "No…" her gaze drifted up towards a billboard advertising a yellow sports car, "that actually explains a lot."

She squeezed his hand as Travis and Lisa carried out platters with carafes, cups, bowls and utensils. Lisa poured coffee for Reese and Joss, while Travis poured out a warm beef broth for Bear and Antonia, placing their bowls on the sidewalk.

Lisa and Travis laughed as Reese, Joss, Bear and Antonia all sighed in appreciation at the steaming liquids. "Why don't we just start bringing stuff out, and you all just relax and dig in?" Travis said, as he took his wife's hand again.

"Sounds good to us," Reese said.

They watched the couple share a brief kiss as they walked back inside the diner.

Joss said softly, "They're good together."

"They are. Travis loved Lisa for a long time, and she loved him, but it wasn't until they were in danger that they realized how much they cared for each other. Since then, I don't think they've spent a day apart."

Reese leaned over and poured more broth for Bear and Antonia, who had already emptied their bowls and were eagerly awaiting more. "They're good people; smart, talented, hardworking and they're slowly but steadily gaining a loyal clientele here."

"Baring, of course," Antonia looked up from her bowl, "little things like a shootout and a building exploding nearby keeping your customers away."

Bear gave her a wry glance. "I'm sure they'll add a contingency plan to their operations manual for the next time that happens, Antonia."

Antonia snorted. "They'd better hurry. Judging by the firepower Blanket Boy had in that weapons bag," her eyes twinkled at Reese, "stuff like that happens around you guys every week." The Mob Enforcer's ears twitched. "I'm jealous."

"Here we go," The McGradys walked out with two huge platters loaded with food and the four friends didn't say anything for a long time.

XXX

"So…" Grace said slowly, "you used football to determine if people were going to commit murder."

"You don't seem at all surprised by that, Grace."

"Harold, I'm a Carolina girl. Football is…" a look of wonder spread across her face, "our opera. A grand story played out in front of a passionate," she smiled, "_fanatical_ audience every week."

"Yes…" Harold nodded, with a smile, "I've never thought of it that way, but you're right. And just as one play can determine winning or losing, there's that one moment when someone goes from thinking about murder to actually deciding to do it."

Harold had explained how he had created a system as part of a secret government program that identified people who could be victims or perpetrators, and how football's heightened emotions, calculated strategies and stunning bursts of violence facilitated the development of methodologies and scenarios that helped the system he called the Machine pick out those people from the billions of pieces of data it examined every day.

"As the Machine grew and developed it created its own methodologies and strategies, but in the beginning, I used football to help the Machine learn, to have it place a bet, as it were, on victory or defeat, and to apply what it learned to the next game. It worked, exceedingly well."

Grace leaned forward. "But if it worked, what happened to the program?"

"It got shelved – officially it was over concerns about privacy and shifting priorities, but the real reason was that saving individual human lives was deemed a bad investment – high costs/low return - it wouldn't influence votes, draft legislation or get funding appropriated. The Machine was assigned to another program, and the lives it could have saved, were forgotten. In order to cover up the real reason the program was halted, it was deemed a colossal failure - and so was I." The Coach's eyes flickered with the pain of that memory.

The artist nodded. "So there was anger, sadness, disillusionment, but you also had a new obsession," she said softly with a smile. "Football."

"Yes," Finch smiled back. "To my astonishment, I had absolutely fallen in love with it. I managed to get a coaching position at Machine High," his smile quickly faded, "and that's when I let my pride and my ego take over."

He shifted, looking out over the empty park. "In the beginning, as you know, we lost every game in spectacular fashion. The administration, especially our School Board Head, Alonzo Quinn, supported me. The young men, who were committed, dedicated and hardworking, defended me. The faculty and staff, particularly the Cafeteria Lady, Mr. Reese and the Security Head, Mr. DeHond, encouraged me. And you, especially, Grace, even though we had just met a few months earlier, were there for me."

Finch lowered his head, looking at the ground, "But it wasn't enough. I knew that I was the problem; I was the reason we were losing. I was desperate to be successful; I couldn't abide being a failure again. One afternoon I had visited you while you were painting along the river –"

"I remember that day," Grace nodded. "You brought me ice cream."

"Yes, and as I walked along the promenade, I heard a pay phone ringing. Something told me to answer it. A voice gave me a series of letters and numbers, then a string of numbers."

"The Machine called you?"

Finch nodded. "Despite the reassignment, the Machine still held on to its mission – both of them, and it was still evolving. I had the Social Security number of a runaway named Theresa Whittaker, and now, the plays of our next opponent. We won the next game, and Mr. Reese and Mr. DeHond, who have some rather unique talents, helped me save a young woman's life. I told myself that we were saving those lives that the government had deemed irrelevant…" his voice trailed off.

Grace took the empty cup out of his hand and she sat there, waiting.

The Coach finally turned back to her. "…and that winning a few football games while we saved those lives didn't really matter."

"Why did you leave me, Harold," she asked quietly.

"I'd never met anyone like you before, Grace. You were," his voice softened, "the woman that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. You saw things in me that nobody had ever seen before, and while the support of others was important when we were losing, it was _you_ who truly helped me persevere, to keep working until we did win. I told myself that I needed to leave you to protect you, that the work that I was doing with Mr. Reese and Mr. DeHond was dangerous, that you could be targeted by one of our foes, or perhaps, even by the government, if they found out what we were doing, but the real reason was that I couldn't bear for you to find out that I was a fraud and a liar, that I really wasn't earning those victories honestly. So I," he shook his head, "became an even bigger fraud and liar by making up a flimsy excuse about things moving too quickly and leaving you."

Grace sat there for a long time and then she reached into her bag again and pulled out an orange. "Tell me about your evening, Harold."

Her small fingers started peeling the fruit as he began to talk.

XXX

"Need a lift?"

Bellies full, the four friends stood in the delivery area behind Lyric's.

"Thanks for taking the call, Fermin," Reese smiled.

Fermin Ordoñez's head leaned out of the window of his yellow cab. "The last time you got into my cab, John, there was a bit of trouble, but, "he smiled, "with such a beautiful woman by your side, perhaps this ride might be more peaceful?"

"If you think _I'm_ trouble, Fermin, I'm nothing compared to _her_," Reese smirked, while Joss gave him that look.

"Ah, beautiful _and_ dangerous, a perfect combination. Please, get in. I want to hear how you met such an intriguing woman."

Antonia turned to Bear. "I need to pay some associates in the old neighborhood a visit. I could use some backup, if you're interested."

"I would be honored to accompany you, Antonia," Bear nodded. Making their goodbyes, the two dogs climbed a fire escape and disappeared.

"Where to next, John," Joss asked as they slid into the cab.

Reese's smile was soft and shy. "I have…someplace that I want to show you."

He gave an address to Fermin and the cab pulled away.

XXX

"So the Machine never gave you your Counselor's Number because they never planned on killing him."

Grace glanced down, her lips quirking as she realized the half peeled orange was still in her hands. She began peeling the fruit again, as she continued to listen to Finch's tale.

"That is correct. Mr. Quinn's and Mr. Simmons' plan was to implicate Mr. Fusco in the theft of funds and the destruction of Machine High, and they wanted him very much alive. He had some…issues during his time on the police force and there was also some speculation regarding his involvement in the disappearance of a fellow HR Counselor, a man named James Stills. Ms. Carter discovering their plot forced them to change their plans suddenly."

"And the cameras were disabled so the Machine wasn't able to observe their activities," she handed an orange section to Finch.

"Correct, and while the explosives would have destroyed the surrounding neighborhood, that was based on a miscalculation of the men setting the explosives, not intent on their part," Finch nodded while he took a bite of the fruit.

"So," Grace chewed thoughtfully, "the Machine is 'never wrong'," she crooked her index fingers in the air, "but it's not perfect…so why do you think you have to be?"

"I…" the Coach sat there, blinking at her.

XXX

Fermin had dropped them off in front of a high stone wall covered with ivy and climbing roses. As John took her hand, Joss noticed an old sign almost covered by the lush vegetation proclaiming the place as 'Edgerton Park'. He swiped a card and a wide gate swung open and they walked in.

There was a graceful street in the middle of the park guiding you forward. Huge oaks, maples and sycamores shaded ten large private homes, five on each side of the street, their lush gardens bursting with color. The park was dominated by a three story mansion at the end of the street, surrounded by a wrought iron fence, and as they approached, Joss knew they were near the river.

The mansion glowed in the morning light. Painted a pale yellow, the massive trees threw varying shades of light and dark on the building, their thick branches and broad leaves turning its color from light gold to a shimmering bronze as they shifted and moved in a gentle breeze.

Joss smiled as John led her to the mansion's front gate. Instead of a latch or a keyhole, there were three glowing panels; two rectangular ones and then a smaller squared shaped one. Reese pressed his hand to the largest rectangular panel and the gate slid open.

As they walked along a stone driveway, Joss could hear the sounds of the city disappearing, buffeted by the lush plantings, the sound of the river and the birds swooping overhead. The narrow deep back yard had a multi-car garage, a boat hangar, and as the yard sloped down to the river, Joss could see a long boat launch cantilevered over the swirling, rushing water. Each floor of the mansion had a sweeping balcony overlooking the backyard and Joss could just make out a glittering glass building on the roof.

"You all live here – you, Finch and Bear," she said softly.

"Yes. Bear actually owns the place. He had a distant relative, who was a silent movie star," they both smiled at the irony of a dog who could talk, being in silent films. "His 'owner', who was actually his manager, built the mansion and the park and they lived here after leaving Hollywood. Over the years, as their fortune dwindled, they sold off sections of the park for the homes you saw as we walked in, and the mansion started to fall apart as their health began to fail. Ultimately, Bear found out that he inherited it via an attorney and he came to the US, planning to live here with his future mate, Jessica, but she left him for someone else and his partner tried to kill him. Both he, and this place, were in pretty bad shape when I found him."

"He told me how both you and Finch nursed him back to health and helped him get the job at Machine High." Joss squeezed his hand. "He said that you gave him a purpose."

"We all helped each other, and we all worked to fix this place up, still working on it. Bear's on the first floor, Finch is on the second and I'm on the third."

They entered a side door and stepped into a small elevator. As they rose, Joss imagined that the Security Head's lair had a full sized movie theatre so that he would watch his beloved war games simulations, that the Coach's place had shelves full of leather bound books and that the Cafeteria Lady had –

"Oh, John, this is incredible."

They stepped into a wide open space. A huge gleaming kitchen ran along the front of the building and there were two sitting areas, one a more formal living room, while the other was more relaxed, meant for sprawling and watching sporting events on an extensive media center. Joss smiled as she viewed a gleaming door off to the side of the kitchen; most people would mistake it for a walk-in freezer, but Joss knew that it housed weapons even more deadly and fascinating than the ones he had in his weapons bag, and she itched to get her hands on them.

John followed her eyes and he smiled at her. "There's a firing range in the basement."

Joss chuckled. "Of course there is. Show me the rest."

The back of the apartment had two bedrooms with a shared bath on one side and a large master suite on the other, complete with a luxurious bath and walk-in closets. French doors from the master suite led you out to the balcony overlooking the river.

Joss gave him a teasing smile as she leaned against the railing. "All your conquests must have been quite taken with this place, John."

Her smile faded as John stepped close to her, his blue eyes darkening. "I've never brought anyone here, Joss."

He slowly reached out with one hand and traced the edge of the shawl. Joss felt his masculinity envelop her body, claiming her, and she couldn't help thinking of seeing his long, muscular naked body, magnificently gleaming in the moonlight, moving with incredible grace and power.

She wanted to see it again, wanted it to see it move over her and around her, and finally, Joss wanted to see it inside her.

John was very much a man and Joss was very much a woman, and as they stared at each other, she knew that they were both very much aware of the large bed in the room behind them.

He took her hand. "Let's go up to the roof."

XXX

Grace sat back. "So are you telling me that you stopped preparing for these games, Harold? That you just let the information you get from the Machine tell you what to do? You sit back and it does all the work?"

"Of course not! I prepare thoroughly, go over every detail from beginning to end. I always have, Grace, that hasn't changed. The information that I get from the Machine is the final piece of a very detailed, intense and thorough process."

"And if you didn't use the information from the Machine anymore, relied on your team and your preparation, Harold? What do you think would happen?"

"We…would probably win. But…we could also lose."

Grabbing her sketch pad, the artist tore off the detailed rendering and threw it up in the air. A sudden gust of wind caught it and the drawing pinwheeled away into the distance.

"Grace! What are you doing?" The Coach started to stand up to go after the drawing, but Grace caught his arm, her grip surprisingly strong.

"It's gone, Harold. I lost it. You lose things; drawings, games, people, but isn't that what life is all about? Winning and losing, learning from both? I've read about your young men, Harold – they are true student-athletes, who go on and attend the finest universities here and abroad. They're good men and they're good citizens. You've given them so much, but losing, recognizing that it doesn't defeat you, it doesn't _define_ you…that could be the greatest gift that you could give them. After all, didn't _you_ win from losing?"

Finch stared at her, then he smiled. "How…did you become so wise, Grace Hendricks?"

Her smile was sad. "I lost you, Harold. I had to go on…and I did."

She pulled out a package of homemade cookies and some bottled water. "Tell me about your next opponent."

XXX

"We still have a lot of work to do up here, Joss."

He watched her take in the view, from the gleaming river, to the tall skyscrapers, to the surrounding neighborhoods and finally, the park itself. She nodded slowly. "I can see why this was called Edgerton – it was at the edge of the city at that time."

Reese nodded. "Back when this was built, it probably seemed impossible that the city would grow up around and beyond this place."

She smiled. "It's no longer at the edge of town, John, but it is an…oasis. Living here would be very peaceful and calming, especially after saving people, or," her lips quirked, "dealing with a bunch of high school drama."

Reese smirked. "Knowing I was coming here after certain days in the cafeteria definitely saved a few kneecaps, Joss. Why don't I show you around?"

They examined the extensive mechanicals, Joss' eyes lighting up as she ran her hands over the gleaming machines, some dating back to the mansion's original construction, while others were fully computerized, various lights gleaming like jewels in the sunshine.

There were three rickety lawn chairs in one section of the roof, and under a makeshift awning, there was a small, child sized hammock, an overstuffed easy chair and a large recliner.

Reese showed her the greenhouse, which was also original to the mansion. "We reglazed the glass and resoldered it – Finch is an excellent welder – and we'll be able to use it this winter. Eventually, there will be a real patio area up here and an outdoor kitchen."

His eyes cast over the roof. "The garage is practically falling down, the yard is a jungle and this area over here," he pointed to a large dark patch of land just outside the fence, "was a maze, but it's all grown over now. Apparently, Bear's relative and his manager had some pretty wild parties down there." He raised his eyebrows at Joss. "Bear could have a few more pack mates that he doesn't know about."

Joss laughed. "_Guess Who's Coming to Dinner_ – Bear might need to have a few more bowls ready for some surprise guests!" She touched his arm. "Show me the garden, John."

Reese led her over to a series of raised beds, bursting with a variety of vegetables. He felt his ears turning red as Joss read aloud the tags on several of the robustly growing plants.

"Juicy Joss…" a large, bright red tomato, with glistening, smooth skin.

"Carter Cutie…" a golden cherry tomato, whose narrow flowers swung in the breeze like a long ponytail.

"Homicidal Jalapeno…" a forest green, bullet shaped pepper, with light green striations around it.

"Delicious Detective…" a small graceful eggplant, rich purplish brown with a dark pink end.

Joss' voice grew hushed. "Jocelyn's Heart..."

Her hand reached out and touched an exquisite dark red tomato, plum sized, with a distinct, heart like shape. "John…" She turned to him, her eyes sparkling with tears. "It's beautiful."

Reese's voice was a whisper. "It's small, yet rich and bursting with flavor. It doesn't fall apart or get mushy. Great for cooking, but I think it tastes best…unadorned…fresh and warm from the garden,"

Reaching out, Reese plucked one, putting it in Joss' hand.

He led her to a two-seater rocking chair at the back of the garden, nestled under a huge trumpet vine.

XXX

Grace's sketch pad was covered with Finch's square, neat printing and her graceful script.

"Yes…I agree with you, that scenario could work. Coach Donnelly can get fixated on one play, or even one player, and that can definitely work to our advantage." He smiled at her. "I've missed this, Grace...I missed you – I'm sorry," he said softly, "I have no right to say that."

Grace said nothing for a long time, then she softly said. "I've missed this too."

The sun had warmed up their seating area, and she took off her jacket, rolling up her sleeves and exposing a small tattoo on the inside of her left elbow.

"**F**rescoes, **F**irenze, **F**ilipepi* – that was my last guess," Finch said, gazing at the three small letters inked there. "And I was wrong again."

"Three of my favorites, but yes, you were wrong again." Grace tilted her head at him. "You were so determined to find out what those letters meant, Harold; you even developed an algorithm to try to figure it out." She smiled at him. "You do know that I was joking when I said that I'd marry the man who could."

The Coach smiled back. "I had to try."

They gazed at each other and then Grace said softly. "Try…one more time, Harold. What do you know about me? You. Not some formula or algorithm, what _you_ know about me."

Finch stared at the woman he had never stopped loving. "I know that you're brilliant and beautiful and unbelievably talented. I know that family is incredibly important to you. I know that even though you hate New York winters that you always go to church, every week, in spite of the weather. I know that one of your guilty pleasures is reading the Southern Vampire Mysteries**. I know that you're a huge Gamecocks*** fan – "

The Coach stopped.

Slowly he said, "**F**aith….**F**amily….**F**ootball."

There was a swooshing sound. Grace's sketch suddenly dropped from the sky and landed at their feet.

XXX

This was what he had dreamed of, Reese thought.

Warm sun, a clear blue sky, the gentle creak of the rocker as it swayed back and forth, the red shawl fluttering lightly in the breeze, Joss' slender, strong fingers intertwined with his.

Reese got up, and knelt down in front of Joss, slowly unzipping and removing her high heeled boots, smiling as she wriggled her red tipped toes in the sunlight.

Lifting his head, he gazed at her. "I'm going to court you, Joss Carter."

Her big brown eyes got even bigger, then she gave him that little nod. "I'd like that, John Reese."

Reese reached out and cupped her cheek, and while his hand had shook before, now it was still and steady, with the calm and wondrous certainty that someday, Jocelyn Carter was going to be his wife.

Slipping back into the chair, he leaned forward, gently touching his lips to hers.

"I love you, Joss."

She pressed Jocelyn's Heart into his hand.

"I love you, too, John."

Her small hands slid up his pale lilac shirt and paused over his heart, as she kissed him back.

Smiling against his lips, Joss murmured, "When do I get to see the firing range?"

Reese laughed. "Soon, Joss…but why don't we just sit and enjoy the view?"

She gave him that look, then her eyes softened as she gazed at him. "For a while, I guess we can."

She shifted, leaning against him as he put his arm around her.

They sat there for a while, and then Joss said with a soft sigh, "This is nice. You could spend the whole day up here."

Reese kissed her hair. "You could."

And with her head on his shoulder and her heart in his hand, they sat there for a long time.

*****Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, is better known as Botticelli, the famed Renaissance painter. He is known for many works, including _The Birth of Venus_, which is at the Uffizi in Florence.

******Also known as the Sookie Stackhouse Novels,Carrie Preston played Arlene on the HBO series, _True Blood._

***University of South Carolina football team

A/N: Folks remember Darren from the S1 episode Wolf and Cub; Travis was his murdered brother, who's alive in this tale and Lisa was the young woman Travis defended. She gave Reese information about where to find the perpetrators at the comic book store.

The next chapter, Wedding Crashers, will be posted on January 7. Just two more chapters to go!


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